Only In My Dreams
by bleedingxheart
Summary: Complete! Draco's in love with Harry. Harry doesn't know. How do you tell the person you're meant to hate that you love them? Would you even try? Luckily, a chain of events is on the way that might help Draco out. HPDM Slash.
1. Alternate Dimension Draco

**AN: Welcome to Only In My Dreams! First, the basic information.**

**Summary: Draco's in love with Harry. Harry doesn't know. How do you tell the person you're meant to hate that you love them? Would you even try? Luckily, a chain of events is on the way that might help Draco out.**

**Pairing: HPDM, duh.**

**Warning: This fic contains slash, or gay love. Don't like it? Don't read it.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything.**

**As of 16th January, 2007: This chapter has been completely re-written, so if it seems different to the chapter you remember…well, it is.**

**Now, on to the fic.**

Alternate Dimension Draco

_Friday, October 13th_

It was night-time at Hogwarts, more specifically, that point in time after dinner where students either hung around in their common-rooms, studied in the library or snuck up to the Astronomy Tower for a session with their significant other.

Unfortunately for him, Draco Malfoy was not one of these students.

He sat in his usual chair, flanked by Crabbe, Goyle, Zabini and Nott. He listened to their inane conversation about the Dark Lord and their parents and their bloodlines and the other Slytherins and the cake they'd had for dinner that night (which, of course, was Crabbe and Goyle's choice of conversation).

"I heard a rumour that Eden in third-year is actually a bastard son of a Mudblood." Zabini said in his cool voice, with a light sneer.

"Eden? Half-blood? I don't believe it." Nott said dismissively. "My mother knows his father personally."

Draco resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Honestly, what did it all _matter?_

"Did you hear Douche tried to get onto the Quidditch team?" Zabini asked now.

As the discussion continued, every word polished and controlled to perfection, Draco looked around. He and his friends, for want of a better term, always sat in the centre of the room, near the fireplace. All of the other Snakes were clustered throughout the long, narrow room, holding their own conversations that were as controlled and polished as the one taking place around him.

He knew every intricate detail about the politics of his House. He knew who to flatter, who to freeze out, when to speak, when not to. He was a natural Slytherin.

He knew in the past that those politics had mattered greatly to him. His younger self had revelled in the tense atmosphere of the Common Room.

His current self didn't give a shit anymore, and for a reason that was so shameful he'd barely been able to admit it to himself, let alone anyone else.

The clock over the fireplace struck 10 o' clock. Draco stood at once.

"If you'll excuse me," he said curtly to his fireside companions, "I'm going to bed. Goodnight."

"Goodnight." The others murmured as one, before turning back to their conversation.

They pretty much summed up Slytherin house, Draco decided, as he left the fireplace and headed for the stairs to the boys' dorm. Muted. Precise. Careful. Controlled.

"Draco, darling!"

Yes, that was Slytherin, with the exception of the girl who currently stood in front of him.

He reluctantly met the gaze of Pansy Parkinson.

"Pansy." He greeted coolly.

"Draco, darling." She repeated, simpering up to him. By god, but she was not attractive.

"Yes, Pansy, what is it? Get to the point." Draco snapped impatiently.

Pansy's eyes flashed with hurt momentarily before she recovered. "I was wondering, Draco darling, if you'd finished that Potions homework yet." She said, twirling a strand of blonde hair in what he guessed she thought was a girlish, playful gesture. "Because I haven't, and I thought maybe you could help me out with some…private tutoring, in my room."

Eurgh.

"Actually, Pansy, I'd rather be in a room filled with starving Acromantulas than in a room alone with you." He bit icily.

Her eyes widened, and she looked at him reproachfully. "Now really, Draco darling, was that necessary?" she huffed.

Draco's head screamed 'YES', but he remained impassive.

"Ever since the start of term you've been acting oddly. You don't participate in things anymore. You don't flirt with me or hold my hand between classes or touch my hair when you talk to me. Honestly, I don't know what your problem is, Draco darling, and I'm getting tired of waiting to find out!"

With that, she turned and flounced away towards the Girls' dorms in a manner that she probably considered dramatic, but really just made her look like some kind of demented catwalk model with a bad limp.

Draco watched her go. "Wouldn't you like to know." He muttered after her, before continuing on his way to the Boys dorms.

HPDM

After he had brushed his teeth and changed into his favourite pair of green silk pyjamas, Draco collapsed into bed and performed his usual protection spells. This all being done, he allowed himself to get comfortable, preparing to go to the place that made him happy.

For you see, the secret that Draco hid from everyone was shameful indeed. Shameful enough to probably get him thrown out of Slytherin if they all knew. Shameful enough that his father might disown him if he knew.

Draco Malfoy was in love with Harry Potter.

Oh, shock, horror, someone call the nurse, he's gone 'round the loop. No, Draco was perfectly sane, in all aspects of his life, except for the tiny inconvenience he was in love with his archrival.

Every day, Draco was around Harry. Whether it was in or in between class, during the breaks, just before meal times, at least once a day they had face-to-face contact. Draco, of course, had to do what he was expected to, and thus sneered and teased and insulted Harry and his friends. But, try as he might, he couldn't replicate that pure hatred towards Harry that existed before. It was stilted by the new emotion he felt towards the dark-haired boy: love.

And so, from this, Draco's life had become a living hell. He didn't let it show outwardly – except from the little things that even Pansy could pick up, such as silently pushing away his Slytherin companions. Anyone could believe he was still the same Draco Malfoy he'd always been.

But he wasn't. So, nighttime had become his solace, the bright light at the end of the darkened tunnels that were his days.

Because here, in the privacy of his bed, he could pretend.

He could pretend that instead of insulting Harry, he kissed him.

He could pretend that instead of hating him, Harry loved him.

He could pretend that instead of the Weaselette, it was him Harry was going out with.

Because by night, he became another person. A Draco from another dimension. The Draco he wanted to be. Only in his dreams, did Harry love him.

He envied that other Draco more than anything in the whole world.

Because he was loved by Harry.

Reality Draco wasn't.

_TBC_

**AN: End chapter. Thank you for reading. Note that obviously, there would be no slash to speak of yet, so calm down lol. Please review!**


	2. A Plan Is Born

**Hallo! Thank you to the 6 people who reviewed; you're all my gods.**

**Don't worry; I absolutely refuse to let Harry end up with anyone but Draco. I mean, anyone else and Harry is just plain wrong, in my opinion.**

**This chapter is in Harry's POV, showing your typical evening in Gryffindor Tower, plus a little plotting going on…**

A Plan Is Born

_Friday, October 13th_

The Gryffindor common room was completely packed with people, like it always was. Students sitting with their friends were doing homework, eating, talking, laughing. The noise level was oppressive. If anyone who wasn't a Gryffindor came into the room they might be swept away by it.

Fortunately, Harry Potter was a Gryffindor, and not only was he completely used to what the common room was like, he absolutely loved it.

He was sitting with his friends at their favourite table. Ginny was beside him, and he had his arm lazily flung over her shoulders. Neville was on the other side of her, brow furrowed in concentration as he worked on an essay.

Harry smiled at the sight of his best friends across from him, blushing every time their knees or shoulders came into contact.

"Sorry, 'Mione." Ron muttered, his cheeks tinged pink.

"It's alright, Ron." Hermione replied quietly, her cheeks a similar pink.

When two people who are so right for each other don't have a clue, there's always a stage when it just gets irritating. Mercifully, his friends hadn't reached that stage yet. It was still amusing…just.

"So, is everyone going to Hogmeade tomorrow?" Ginny questioned.

Hermione actually seemed to be considering the question. "I don't really know if we should go, everyone has so much homework to do, it seems irresponsible to not take advantage of the day off."

At the look on Ron and Harry's faces, she quickly changed tack. "Kidding!" she laughed.

Harry was gazing around the crowded common room, as though searching for someone.

"What are you doing, Harry?" Neville questioned, looking up from his essay.

"I'm just seeing if Dean and Seamus are here." Harry replied, craning his neck for a sighting of sandy hair or darkened skin.

"Are you kidding?" Ron laughed. "Of course they're not here. They're out in the castle somewhere, probably shagging, or maybe just snogging."

At that moment the portrait opened and said boys burst into the room, with loose ties, messy hair and a glow in their eyes.

"Problem solved." Hermione laughed, as the two made their way over to the table.

Harry smiled at the sight of the couple. The two boys were holding hands and giggling as they foolishly stumbled over themselves, each other and the surrounding students on their way to the table.

When Seamus and Dean had gathered them all together at the start of the year, they'd all wondered what the meeting could possibly be about. After all, it had only been September – nothing too important had happened yet.

What they didn't know was that over the summer, Seamus and Dean's friendship had developed into something more. They'd been remarkably matter-of-fact about it, telling everyone they had both realised their feelings for each other and were now in a relationship.

"We wanted to tell you guys." Dean had said to them.

The group had pretty much accepted it straight away; after all, homosexuality was not as big of a deal in the wizarding world as it was in the muggle world. 'Love knows no gender,' as Hermione had quoted, and while Ron in particular had taken a few hours to get used to it, now, a month into the school year, they all found Seamus and Dean's relationship a source of joy and amusement.

After awhile, Ron stopped what he was doing (which was attempting to read Hermione's Transfiguration essay upside down in order to copy it) and leaned back, folded his arms and glared at the ceiling.

"Something wrong, Ron?" questioned Dean.

"Just thinking again about what Malfoy said to us today." Ron replied with an irritated sigh. "I mean, we never do anything to him. And everyday, he insists on making fun of my family and calling Hermione…well, THAT word. And he's especially vicious to you, Harry. I don't understand why you don't retaliate."

"He's not worth it." Harry said dismissively. "He can insult us as much as he wants to, but really, come on. We agreed at the start of the year we wouldn't let him get to us. So, I'm not going to react anymore. Maybe he'll get the hint."

"Ron's right though." Hermione mused. "There's almost an obsessive quality in how he singles us out and insults us. And every single day!"

That was indisputable.

"I was thinking…" Hermione looked hesitant, "Maybe we should talk to him about calling a truce. I know it might be difficult to get him to agree to it, but I for one am sick of having to put up with that annoying little ferret insulting us every day."

Everyone murmured their agreement, as Harry nodded decisively. "I agree, 'Mione. Tomorrow, if he goes to Hogsmeade, maybe I could try to pull him aside for a moment, you know, and try and negotiate a truce with him."

"And if he tries anything shifty, we'll be ready." Ron vowed.

His friends all grinned evilly at this, and launched at once into discussions as to how they would pull off the mission. Harry didn't join in, however, as he was thinking about what they'd just discussed.

He didn't hate the ferret anymore. Now he thought about it, all the years of 'hatred' didn't seem like they were genuine. It wasn't that he liked Malfoy, far from it – he doubted they would ever be friends. And he would probably never forget all the nasty things he'd said and done to them over the years. But _hate?_ It was too strong a word. He strongly disliked Malfoy. That was all.

But recently, Harry had noticed something interesting. For all of Malfoy's insults and jeers and threats against him and his friends, Harry sensed that they were empty. Like Malfoy's heart just wasn't in it anymore. The venom wasn't there. He couldn't understand why that would be; Malfoy had always thrown himself into making their lives hell. But something had changed, even if his friends weren't aware of it. He was determined to find out what it was.

Eventually the time came for everyone to go upstairs. Harry kissed Ginny goodnight, hugged Hermione and he, Ron, Dean, Seamus and Neville headed to their dorm, where everyone changed and got into bed.

The usual chorus of goodnights sounded, followed by the rustling of 5 sets of blankets as the boys snuggled more soundly into their beds.

Harry rested his hands behind his head, and gazed at the ceiling for a moment, before closing his eyes. Tomorrow, he would get a truce with Malfoy…and maybe at the same time, he might manage to see if his gut feeling was right, that something had happened to make Malfoy…distracted.

Harry smiled to himself. Yes, he would do just that. Nothing and nobody stopped Harry Potter from finding out what he wanted to know.

Not even irritating pricks like Draco Malfoy.

_TBC_

**AN: See the difference between what Harry and Draco's evenings are like? Oh, the contrast. I love it.**

**Next chapter will feature the visit to Hogsmeade, and (joy!) face-to-face confrontation between Harry and Draco. Excitement, people. Excitement.**

**Thank you very much for reading!**


	3. Mission Possible, Apparently

**AN: Thanks to everyone who reviewed!**

**There is a line from a brilliant movie in this chapter somewhere, if you can locate the line and tell me what movie it's from, you get a cookie. Or a Krispy Kreme donut. State your preference. **

**This chapter features the confrontation in Hogsmeade, and also had mixed POV's. Oooh. Mixed. Enjoy!**

Mission Possible, Apparently

_Saturday, October 14th_

The morning dawned slowly upon Hogwarts. Mornings are wonderful things. They imply the start of a new day, which could be filled with opportunities for you to make your life better, if you wished it.

To some people, however, they were just a signal that another day of existence was on the way.

Draco woke slowly this particular Saturday morning. Lying in his bed, he gazed blearily at the ceiling for a moment. His usual, silent morning dialogue ran through his head.

_Where am I? _The dorms. _What day is it? _Saturday. _What time is it? _Who cares, it's not nighttime, and that's all that matters.

Draco groaned and hit his head onto the pillow several times. He'd been having a dream about Harry. Harry and said 'I love you.'

'I wish.' Draco thought sadly.

Just then, a shadow appeared outside his bed's curtains. Draco eyed the shadow suspiciously, and lifted his protection charms. At once, the curtains were torn open to reveal the dark eyed figure of Blaise Zabini.

"I thought I should wake you up, Draco." He said, in a voice as close to cheerful as he got. "Hogsmeade is today, and you'll have to get up to make to breakfast in time."

Draco, in a gesture most unlike him, promptly picked up a pillow and threw it at Blaise, which landed with a satisfying THUD on his nose.

"OW!"

"When I'm good," smirked Draco, "I'm good."

Blaise being temporarily subdued, Draco sat up and rubbed his eyes, and stared into his hands. This was going to be a very long day.

HPDM

The scene in the Gryffindor Tower boys dorm, meanwhile, was considerably different.

Ron, Seamus, Dean and Neville stood at mock-attention in a line near the door. Harry paced back and forth before them.

"Alright guys, we have a mission. Whether we succeed or fail is not the point."

He paused.

"Well, I guess the entire point is to succeed, but that's still not the point."

The others chuckled quietly, as Harry continued.

"Our mission objective is to find Draco Malfoy and make him call a truce with us. As your leader, I will gladly take the charge. I want you to be back-up in case I run into trouble."

The four boys nodded their agreement.

"Good. You may be wondering what your part in this will be. Your goal is to be back up, as you know, but your challenge is to back up _without the enemy knowing you're there. _Step light. Move fast. Be prepared for anything."

The others nodded in agreement again, trying very hard not to burst out laughing. Harry barely concealed a grin, reminding himself they were meant to at least be trying to take it seriously.

"Right. Shake hands on it."

There was a flurry of handshakes between Harry and his friends.

"OK, let's go locate our female comrades and fill them in. And…MARCH!"

Needless to say, it was quite some time later before the seven 'soldiers' were equipped to begin phase one: Have Breakfast.

HPDM

Draco sat down at his usual chair, and glared at the toast. He glared at the scrambled eggs. He then glared at everyone at the Slytherin table, and, muttering, helped himself to some coffee. He felt he might need it.

The doors swung open at that moment, and Draco instinctively looked over to see if it was Harry. To his delight, it was, Harry and his friends in…was that single file? Draco pondered this new development as Harry led his friends to the Gryffindor table, and ordered them to their seats.

It was rather amusing; the rest of the house was giving Harry looks indicating they thought he had finally lost it.

'Maybe he has.' Pondered Draco, then considered. 'This is good. If he's lost his mind, he'll be easy to…persuade to my way of thinking.'

Breakfast passed without much incident, and then all students from third year and up headed to the Entrance Hall, to begin their walk to Hogsmeade.

Draco joined the crowd, and found himself followed by Blaise. They walked together down the steps and strolled briskly along the grounds.

"I received a letter from home." Blaise said. "Mother sends you her best wishes, by the way, but she was also saying…"

Draco wasn't really listening, just occasionally nodding and saying yeah, and that's right. He shoved his hands in his pockets and glowered at a nearby couple, consisting of a Ravenclaw boy and a Hufflepuff girl who were prancing along, not a care in the world, hand in hand. Damn them and their togetherness.

After about five minutes or so, Draco just couldn't shake of the feeling he was being…well, followed. He could sense eyes glued to the back of his head, but whenever he turned around to scan the crowds of students behind him, he could find none looking his way.

'Must be imagining it, I guess.' He surmised after the 7th time this had happened.

A long way behind, unbeknownst to those in front of them, Hermione and Ginny darted to the right, while Dean and Seamus crossed back to the left. They were walking in formation, following Harry's instructions, keeping a close eye on the head of blonde hair bobbing along in front. Harry, Ron and Neville strolled casually down the centre as their comrades zipped back and forth before them. Harry suddenly hissed, "Get back, hurry, normal stances, he's going to turn!"

The two pairs immediately walked normally, chatting innocently, as the blonde, sure enough, turned to frown at the people behind him.

"Wait for it…wait for it…ok, go!" Harry whispered, and the strategy resumed.

The entire way to Hogsmeade this continued. Harry had already discussed this with his friends. They were not going to let Draco out of their sight. They would follow, and wait, and watch, and when the time was ripe, BAM! Harry would move in for the truce discussions.

It couldn't fail.

They were patient. They were consistent. Everyone had faithfully been following Draco all day, making sure nothing happened that shouldn't.

Harry thought he was going to cry, he was so proud.

Finally, the chance arrived. It was Ginny and Hermione's turn on close watch duty, and they overheard Draco telling Blaise he needed to go off shopping on his own for a bit. In glee, they sprinted back to Harry to report the news.

"Excellent!" Harry said with relief – he had been starting to think the opportunity would never come up. "Well done, you guys. Let the others know, and don't forget to back me up if I need it."

The girls nodded and hurried off to locate the other boys, while Harry set off, heading for the place they had told him Malfoy was.

HPDM

Draco sighed in relief. Blaise had finally let him be. If he had to endure one more second of discussion about the lineage of Blaise's mother's new husband and how all his ancestors were Slytherins, Draco thought he just might explode.

Draco set off down the street, not entirely sure what his purpose was but glad to be rid of Blaise's company.

"Oi! Malfoy!"

'_Harry.'_ Draco thought, recognizing the voice. He grimaced as he turned around and watched the gorgeous green eyes approach him.

"I need to talk to you."

Draco raised an elegant, pale eyebrow. "OK then Potter. What could you possibly want to talk to me about?"

"I'd rather not discuss it in public, if you don't mind."

'_That's weird.' _Draco thought, but obligingly looked around and spotted an alleyway between two of the buildings. "How about over there?" he suggested.

Harry nodded in agreement, and Draco led the way. He turned around and faced Harry, and raised an eyebrow expectantly.

"Right, well, um, here's the thing." Harry began, nervously running a hand through his already messy dark hair.

Harry was talking, Draco was sure, but he couldn't seem to register the words. His eyes were on the hair, the beautiful, silky dark hair, his mind gleefully feeding him pictures of what it would be like to run his hands through it, stroke it, grasp it when…

"Malfoy? MALFOY? God, you weren't even listening to me. Honestly, why am I even bothering?"

"I'm sorry, Potter." Draco said dreamily. "Do go on."

Harry shot him a funny look, but continued nonetheless. "As I was saying, my friends and I have been talking, and we're really sick of the petty rivalry and insults that always get exchanged between us. It seems kinda pointless to keep fighting each other for no reason. I mean, I don't hate you anymore. I don't want to have to keep thinking about fighting you, or worrying about when you're going to pop up and insult me when I have better, more important things to think about. So, we've come to a decision, that we would like to call a truce. We won't have to be best friends or anything, if that's what you're thinking. We just won't needlessly insult and attack each other anymore. What do you think?"

Out of all of that, only two things had registered in Draco's still slightly dazed brain. First, Harry didn't hate him. And second, he wanted a truce, and HARRY had masterminded it. It was Harry's idea to stop fighting. Which meant Draco didn't have to continue to pretend to want to insult him.

This was good. This was very good.

"You know what Potter, I completely agree." Draco said calmly. "I agree to your truce."

Harry blinked. Well, that had been easy. "Really?"

"Absolutely. I've been feeling the same way recently, actually. We can even shake on it, if you want."

Draco held out his hand, and Harry took it, and they shook hands.

"Alright then Malfoy, well, I'll see you around at school then, I guess." Harry said, still feeling puzzled, and moved to turn and leave.

But Draco wouldn't let go. He clutched Harry's hand. Suddenly, he had physical contact with Harry, and he didn't want to lose it…

Meanwhile, Harry was struggling. "Malfoy! Let…go…" He pulled with all his might, and wrenched his hand free. Draco blinked at him. Harry stared suspiciously, even confusedly back for a moment, and then turned and ran.

As he did, he heard a soft voice behind him say, "He doesn't hate me…" Harry turned the corner and just as he glanced back, he caught a glimpse of Malfoy, smiling, actually smiling, at the wall opposite.

And the weird thing was, Harry realised Malfoy looked almost…well, handsome,when he was smiling.

'_What the hell?' _he questioned himself.

Harry got back to the meeting place to find his friends. They converged on him instantly.

"Well?"

"What happened, Harry?"

"Have we got ourselves a truce?"

"Was the mission successful?"

Harry stared blankly around at them all. Finally, he swallowed and said quietly, more to himself than anything else, "Yeah…I guess it was."

_TBC _

**AN: There we go! Chapter 3. Hope you liked it. Please review!**

**bleedingxheart **


	4. I Don't Hate You Anymore

**AN: Hallo! Well, I'm a bit disappointed. No one got the line, which was 'When I'm good, I'm good.' From Robin Hood: Men In Tights. No cookies or donuts for anyone.**

**Thank you so much to everyone who's reviewed!**

**So, here's chapter 4. Harry realises he forgot something, as does Draco. End result? Face to face confrontation. Revel in the joy, people.**

**Mixed POV's, again. Variety! Weeeee!**

'I Don't Hate You Anymore'

_Saturday, October 14th_

That night, after dinner, Harry was back in the Gryffindor common room with his friends, who were cheerfully celebrating the success of their mission. Seamus and Dean had planned a secret trip to the kitchens, and had returned with butterbeer for their celebration.

And so it was the seven friends were gathered around their usual table, drinking merrily, full of self-congratulations.

"I would like to propose a toast." Hermione announced, raising her bottle. The others quickly followed suit.

"To us, to Gryffindor, to the success of the mission and to the truce!" she declared proudly. "Thank God we got it!"

"Hear hear!" Came the general reply, as they clinked their bottles together.

As talk returned to normal, Harry stared unseeingly at the table, not really absorbing the mindless and cheerful babble of his friends.

He couldn't help it; he couldn't help remembering Malfoy clutching his hand as desperately as he had. Why had the blonde done that? Why didn't he let go straight away? There had been definite clutching. Malfoy had been clutching Harry's hand almost like…well, like he hadn't wanted to let go.

Not to mention the fact that Malfoy had agreed to the truce with a suspicious ease. Harry had been completely expecting Malfoy to laugh in his face for even suggesting such a thing, but instead, Malfoy had looked distinctly…relieved, almost, when he'd heard Harry's suggestion.

And with that thought, Harry suddenly remembered. Yes, he had managed to secure the truce with Malfoy with ease. But he forgot the other half of the mission…well, his own private mission. He had forgotten to investigate the recent trend of Malfoy's to just seem like he didn't really want to be fighting anyway. It might be a bit late now, but Harry still wanted to find out if there had been a reason for that.

Plus to question the clutching thing, which was just weird.

'_I'll have to confront him on Monday, when we have classes.'_ Harry vowed to himself with a nod, and feeling a little more relaxed, returned to the conversation with his friends.

HPDM

Meanwhile, down in the Hogwarts dungeons, Draco could be found stalking into the Slytherin common room, and angrily throwing himself into his chair near the fireplace. Folding his legs neatly underneath him, he crossed his arms and with a sigh, and scowled at the green and silver flames, dancing mockingly before his eyes.

Draco marvelled as he watched them dance how much he hated, and yet _loved, _the colour green.

Leaning back, he frowned absently, musing over the happenings of the afternoon. He recalled the dip in his stomach when he'd heard Harry's voice, the skittering feeling of his chest he always felt when he was near Harry, the hand running through that messy hair…

Draco shivered slightly. It would not do to have thoughts like that here. No. Not at all.

At that moment, Pansy flounced in, a pout on her face. Despite Draco's best mental efforts, urging her silently not to see him, she spotted him anyway, and directed her steps towards the fireplace.

'Not again…' was all Draco could think before she was upon him.

"Draco, darling!" she cooed, fluttering her eyelashes madly.

"What do you want now, Pansy?" Draco snapped with irritation.

"I didn't see you at all today, Draco darling, which is a shame, because there was an empty table at Madam Puddifoot's." Pansy simpered, with a hint of a wink.

Draco nearly threw up on the spot. Having had quite enough, he got to his feet and faced her.

"Right, Pansy. This has gone on long enough. You need to realise something. I'm sorry that you seem to be under the delusion I return your ardour, because I'm telling you now – I don't. Maybe, if you acted with some class and took the HINT for once, we could have a beneficial friendship, and yes, that's all it would ever be, before you ask.. As it is, I don't think that's going to happen."

She stared at him, her wide blue eyes slowly registering what he had said. Before any of it could hit home, he added, "And another thing? Don't ever flutter your eyelashes like that at someone you want to score with. It's the most off putting thing I've ever seen in my life."

And with that, he brushed past her and walked up the stairs, leaving her to deal with the cold, hard truth.

'She had it coming, anyway.' He thought indifferently as he entered the dorm.

Cheered to see the room was empty, he performed his nightly adulations, before getting into bed, allowing himself to blankly ponder the canopy once more.

So, Harry and his friends had called a truce with him. Draco was very, very happy about this. He didn't have to keep pretending he wanted to fight and insult him anymore. He could devote all of his time to concentrating on getting over Harry. With all that free time, he was bound to get over him soon.

The other part of the conversation between himself and Harry that afternoon that Draco was ecstatic about was that Harry had said he didn't hate him. After all he had done to Harry, and yet, Harry didn't hate him. Harry didn't want to fight anymore.

It was then Draco realised he hadn't told Harry that he didn't hate him either. Draco realised, upon reflection that it might be a bit weird to be worrying over that, but when it came to this, every vital clue he could give Harry counted. And he had missed one! How would Harry ever realise if he didn't know?

Maybe the whole 'getting over Harry' thing could wait until Monday. After Draco confronted him and said what he wanted to say.

And then, things would be fine.

Draco sighed and contentedly closed his eyes, preparing to be enveloped in the world where Harry loved him.

_Sunday, October 15th _

Sunday was spent by both boys in their Houses. Harry stayed in the Common Room with his friends, catching up on homework and hanging out with them. Draco stayed, for the most part, in his dorm, also doing homework. Both boys went to mealtimes, of course, and though they saw the other there, no move was made on either side for the confrontation to take place. An unknowing silent agreement had been made – they would each confront the other on Monday.

Both boys went to sleep that night with a sense about the next day. For Harry, it was a sense that Monday would bring him answers. For Draco, it was a nervous sense that he would soon be in close proximity with Harry once more.

_Monday, October 16th_

After waking up, (and enlisting Dean, Seamus and Neville to help him push Ron out of bed) and getting dressed, Harry headed down to the common room with his friends, where they met up with Ginny and Hermione. From here, the group headed out of the portrait hole, en route to breakfast.

Harry walked slightly behind everyone else, lost in his own world. Luckily, it was still too early in the morning, and everyone was too sleepy, for his friends to notice much.

In the Slytherin dorms, meanwhile, Draco was dressed, and was occupying himself in the bathroom..

'_Maybe I shouldn't slick my hair back today.'_ He pondered, frowning at his reflection. He deliberated for a few moments more before he ran a decisive hand through his hair, messing it up. It looked quite good, the smooth blonde strands framing his face nicely.

With a smirk of satisfaction, Draco headed for the stairs. Alone, as always. He was always the last to leave in the mornings. Well, could he help it that looking perfect all the time took exactly that: time?

Some people just had no class, or style.

The day was spent by both boys drifting through their classes, each trying to think of where the confrontation would be held. Indeed, _how _it would be held.

Hermione knew Harry was dwelling on something, but also knowing him, knew he wouldn't talk about it unless he wanted to. Still, she carefully took note of his behaviour for later.

Draco on the other hand, kept to himself, as he always did. Crabbe and Goyle didn't question it, just sat there and tried their hardest not to fail miserably at everything they attempted.

Harry's last class was Transfiguration. That wrapped up, and as he and his friends began to head for the Great Hall, Harry was suddenly gripped with that irksome need that has plagued people since the dawn of mankind.

He needed to pee.

After telling his friends he would catch them up, Harry headed for the nearest boys bathroom.

HPDM

Draco sighed, leaning against the sink in the boys bathroom. He hated this. He hated the school. He hated confrontations. He hated life. Why couldn't everyone just die already?

The door swung open, and there stood Harry.

There was a momentary silence.

Then, at the same time, both boys spoke. "I need to talk to you."

The 'rivals' stared at each other, and then amazingly, Draco smiled. Weirded out, Harry nonetheless figured it was safe to smile back. Draco was sure he would die, he was so dazzled by that beautiful, rarely seen smile.

"You first." Draco said quietly. "What do you want to talk to me about?"

Harry took a deep breath. "Well, basically Malfoy, before we called the truce, I realised something."

Draco felt his heart skip a beat. "Yeah?"

"That when we were fighting, it didn't seem like you were actually…you know, in it. I don't know if I was imagining it or what, but it was like you were only fighting for appearances, like you didn't actually mean all your insults. I just…I forgot to ask you about it yesterday, and I'm just wondering what the reason is behind it?"

Harry waited. Draco was speechless, and freaking out silently. _'Shit, shit, SHIT. He knows. He's figured it all out and then everyone else will know and I will be a laughing stock and my father will find out and kill me.'_

Draco took a deep breath, and said, "Thank you for your concern Potter, but I think you were mistaken. I was never 'not in' our fights. I was always gave 100 per cent in every fight we've had and you shouldn't believe any differently."

Harry nodded slowly, not believing him but willing to go along with this anyway. "Alright, I believe you." He said in a tone clearly suggesting to Malfoy the contrary. "But I had another thing I wanted to ask you, about yesterday. Remember, when we shook hands on the truce, and you wouldn't let go?"

Draco sucked in his breath. Yes, he did remember. It was one of the only things he had been able to think about since.

"And I tried to pull my hand away and you just kept clutching it? Actually, while we're at it, why did you give in to the truce so quickly anyway? It wasn't like you at all. Answer me, Malfoy."

Draco stared into the beautiful green eyes of his love. How could he answer? What could he possibly say now, except the truth?

"Malfoy? MALFOY? I swear if you don't come up with the answers right now I'll force them out of you."

Trying hard to ignore how curiously appealing that statement sounded, Draco attempted to think. How. How to get out of this.

And then it came to him.

"Harry." He said quietly, which shut Harry up instantly. The green eyes widened and Harry gaped at him. Draco considered again how much he really hated, and yet at the same time _loved, _the colour green.

"The answers to all your questions is, I don't hate you anymore."

Harry blinked. Well. He hadn't been expecting that as an answer.

"Oh…um…OK." He said hesitantly. "What did you want to talk to me about, then?"

Draco sighed, still gazing into Harry's eyes. "I've already told you what I needed to tell you, Harry. For now, anyway."

And with that note, Draco took one last drink in of green, and turned on his heel. Before Harry could move, Draco was gone in a whirl of black robes.

Harry turned towards the age-speckled mirror and the sink below, putting his hands on either side and staring into it. Well. That had been…weird. He had gotten an answer to his questions. Malfoy had said what he had apparently needed to say.

So why was Harry still confused?

_TBC_

**AN: Draco is becoming braver! Aren't you just so proud? And he's trying to give Harry the hint. Honestly, when will that boy come around? Don't ask me. I'm just the author.**

**Well once again, thank you for reading my story, please review and I'll see you next time!**

**bleedingxheart**


	5. Why Tight Dresses Are Not Classy

**AN: Thanks to everyone who reviewed!**

**Just a quick reminder that the pace of this story is set to 'slow', so if you want mindless smut, you're not going to find it here, sorry.**

**This chapter features the boys pondering over the bathroom incident, Harry Watching, Ginny trying to get some, overmade Pansy and a little surprise at the end. Sound good? Here we go with Chapter 5.**

Why Tight Dresses Are Not Classy

_Monday, October 16th_

Draco moved swiftly from the bathroom, walking as fast as he could away from there, and away from Harry.

He bumped into several latecomers heading for dinner, choosing to ignore them completely. As long as he was far, far away when Harry realised what had just happened, he'd be fine.

Meanwhile, back in the boys' bathroom Draco had just vacated, Harry removed his hands from the sink, and remembered what he had come here for: to relieve his bladder. He headed for the urinal.

Business being done, he left the bathroom and directed his steps towards the Great Hall, and dinner, thinking as he went.

Malfoy had told him he was mistaken. Well, Harry was a lot of things, but he wasn't an idiot. He didn't imagine things and he certainly hadn't mistaken what Malfoy's recent attitude had been.

And his excuse, for the clutching and the way he just gave in to Harry's request for a truce? That crap about Malfoy not hating him anymore? Well, it wasn't good enough. Not for Harry. There was something else, and dammit, Harry was going to find out what it was.

'_Stupid Malfoy.' _Harry glowered, picturing his rival's face with venom.

Soft blonde hair, cool grey eyes…

"Dammit, Malfoy!" Harry growled to himself, shaking his head thoroughly.

Harry reached the Great Hall, and upon reaching the Gryffindor Table, took his seat alongside his friends, whereupon they engaged him in conversation at once.

HPDM

Draco had found himself a nice, deserted corridor. Perfect. He chose a comfortable strip of wall, and slid slowly down against it, landing with a soft sigh.

That had been close. Harry had nearly gotten him to admit the truth. Disastrous.

It was fairly obvious that Harry really didn't feel the same way. Draco knew he was confusing Harry with his behaviour and evasive answers, which was amusing, but at this stage it didn't look like Harry felt anything more for him than a vague tolerance.

Draco allowed his head to fall back and studied the ceiling, barely noticing the tears softly falling from his eyes. All he could think about was that Harry would never, ever feel the same way.

He tried to clear his thoughts. He wanted, no, _needed_ a way to get closer to Harry. To figure more things out about him, and perhaps even explore what options there were as far as the 'I love you, so do you love me' thing went. What would be really helpful, Draco mused, would be if he could become friends with Harry.

Maybe, tomorrow, he could attempt that. He could try and make friends with Harry. It was basically impossible that he would succeed. _'But hey,' _Draco figured, _'I've got to do something, don't I?'_

Satisfied he had a plan, Draco climbed reluctantly to his feet and set out for dinner, secretly hoping when he arrived, a certain brunette wouldn't have finished eating.

What he didn't realise was the entire time, he had conveniently forgot his promise to himself about 'getting over Harry.'

HPDM

Night time found Harry once again in Gryffindor Tower with his friends, Hermione chiding Ron about homework, Neville actually doing the homework, and Dean sitting in a nearby chair, arms full with Seamus. The two were kissing rather passionately.

Doing a very convincing job of ignoring the couple, Harry bent over his bag, searching for a required Herbology book.

"Hey, anyone know where Ginny is?" Neville questioned suddenly, glancing up and around from his Transfiguration homework.

"I think she had detention." Hermione answered, before returning seamlessly to her argument with Ron about his homework.

At that moment the portrait hole opened, and Ginny climbed in. Gazing around, she spotted her friends and weaved her way through the tables and chairs towards them.

"Hey all." She said cheerfully, flopping down next to Harry.

"Hey Ginny." Came the reply from everyone, except Dean and Seamus, obviously otherwise occupied.

Ginny turned to her boyfriend. She smiled a brilliant smile, and nuzzled into his neck. "Hey, you."

Harry knew this had happened before, and he knew he used to be happy to feel Ginny against him. But now, for some reason, he just felt slightly…well, he didn't know how to describe it, honestly. Irritated? Apprehensive? Slightly nauseated?

"Um…hey, Ginny." Harry answered with a weak smile, as warm brown eyes beamed up at him.

Ginny turned her head slightly to look pointedly at Dean and Seamus. "Very involved, aren't they?" She commented lightly, tiptoeing her fingers up and down Harry's arm.

Harry swallowed. "Um, yeah…they are."

"Been a long time since we've done that, hasn't it?" Ginny questioned, and before Harry could even nod, she was upon him, kissing him.

Harry's brain froze. They had definitely kissed before like this, and he had definitely enjoyed it. So why, why now, when she was kissing him so hungrily, did he all of a sudden want nothing more than to push her away?

"Ginny." He spluttered against her mouth. She stopped, looking confused.

"What is it, Harry?"

"I don't think we should be kissing. I've, um, actually been feeling a bit sick lately, and I don't want you to get sick as well." Harry lied swiftly.

"You're sick?" Ginny frowned. "You don't sound it."

Harry immediately launched into a range of loud, sick-sounding coughs.

Ron looked over, and said, "You're sick, Harry? Gee mate, you didn't seem sick today, at all, really."

Harry shot him a look that clearly said _'Don't argue or I will whack you.'_

"No, really." He insisted. "I'm really not feeling very well, I think I should get to bed."

"We-ll," Ginny said coyly, apparently recovering quickly from this unexpected excuse, "At least let me kiss you goodnight before you go." And once again, without warning, she was upon him again.

Harry wrenched himself free and hastily shoved his things back into his bag. Picking it up, he stood.

"Goodnight, guys." He said firmly.

"Night, Harry." Everyone replied. Dean and Seamus dragged themselves away from each other long enough to bid him goodnight as well. Ginny looked upwards through her dark lashes at him, which before might've sent butterflies shooting through his stomach, but tonight, did absolutely nothing.

Hermione had been observing the whole thing with narrowed eyes. Something was definitely up with her best friend. And she would need to investigate, sooner rather than later.

Harry dove towards the stairs, hurrying up them as fast as he could, before throwing himself into the dorm and locking the door.

'_Why,'_ he wondered to himself, '_did I just deny myself the opportunity to make out with my girlfriend? With such a pathetic excuse as, 'I'm feeling sick?'_

_Because, _a snide little voice in his head answered, _maybe you were thinking about somebody else._

Harry didn't know what to say to that, so he did the only thing logical in that situation.

He swore.

"Oh, crap."

HPDM

To his satisfaction, Draco had gotten to dinner in time to see Harry, even make eye contact with him. And even more to his satisfaction, he could've sworn Harry actually _blushed. _

'_Maybe I have a chance after all._' Draco thought optimistically, helping himself to potatoes.

He ate mechanically, as he did usually these days, glancing Harry's way several more times, although he didn't actually make eye contact with him again. He barely registered his house mates nearby discussing something to do with Pansy, and when he had finished, sat back and contentedly took part in his favourite activity: Harry Watching.

20 minutes later, Harry and his friends having left the Great Hall, Draco figured it was about time he left as well. He got to his feet and headed slowly towards the Slytherin common room, nearly walking right past it, so consumed was he in his pondering of everything green eyed and dark haired.

After speaking the password to the bare stretch of wall (Ambition) Draco moved inside.

He had barely time to wonder whether he would go to the fireplace or head upstairs for early bed, when a voice spoke to him from the nearby stairs to the girl's dorms.

"Hello, Draco darling."

Draco turned his head and felt his mouth drop in shock at the sight.

Pansy Parkinson was perched halfway up the staircase, wearing a tight, sparkly green dress that reached mid-thigh and revealed quite a lot of breast. She had on matching heels, which were at least 2 inches high, and from what Draco could see, she was having slight difficulty remaining upright on them.

Draco gagged when his disbelieving gaze travelled to her face, only to find it caked with makeup. Draco could see the line of her foundation, and the thick red lipstick, and the too-much blue eye shadow resting on her eyelids. And the hair…Draco shuddered. Pansy had taken her shoulder length blonde hair and tried to put it in an elegant knot, except she had applied so much hair spray her hair now vastly resembled a helmet.

All in all, the sight was appalling and Draco was sure he would be scarred forever.

She was preening underneath his gaze, apparently mistaking it for a good kind of shock. She began to move down the stairs, wobbling every now and then on her unsteady heels.

"Do you like it, Draco darling? After you gave me that little speech yesterday, I was quite upset, you know. And then I got to thinking about what you said, and I decided you were completely correct. I should start acting, and dressing, with more class. So, I took the day off today to organise this little surprise for you, Draco darling, because that's how much I love you."

She had reached the bottom of the stairs, and now stood, smiling in what she obviously considered a seductive way.

Draco stared at her in silence. Finally, he took a deep breath, and said quietly, "Pansy, you need to understand something. When I said, _'If you acted with class,'_ I meant if you acted anything remotely resembling my mother. My mother is what acting with class is about. Acting with class does NOT mean wearing a short, too tight dress, and huge heels, and too much make up, and so much hairspray in your hair it resembles a helmet. It does not mean dressing like that to throw yourself at someone in the hopes they'll sleep with you. That is the opposite of class. That's just being a slut, which, sadly, you still are, and I suspect you always will be."

"Furthermore," he continued, "I remember I said if you _did _act with class, and took the HINT, _then _maybe I would be your friend. Obviously, you haven't acted with class. You very clearly have not taken the hint. So I'm going to try one more time. I do not love you. I don't even like you. You're one of the more repulsive beings I have met. So, understand something: you don't have a chance with me, and you never did. Get the fuck over it. Goodnight."

And with that, Draco pushed past her once again, and headed to his dorm.

He threw himself onto the bed, morosely staring at the canopy above, trying desperately to think of something, anything, to get the image of an overmade Pansy out of his head.

Quite suddenly, messy dark hair, brilliantly green eyes, soft lips and tanned skin appeared in his mind's eye. It zoomed out, revealing the rest of the beautifully tanned body, which in Draco's imagination, was mercifully naked. The soft lips moved towards him.

Draco smiled gleefully to himself, as he got comfortable. This would do. Yes, this would do nicely.

HPDM

Meanwhile, numerous floors above, Harry had finally managed to get himself to bed without thinking once about the person he didn't want to be thinking about.

'Blank white wall.' He chanted to himself, eyes closed in determination. 'Blank white wall…blank white wall…'

Cautiously, he moved deeper under the blankets, and lay back, eyes still closed.

'Blank white wall…'

Unbidden, a mental image flashed in front of the blank white wall, of deep grey eyes, silky, untamed blonde hair, an arrogant smirk, refined features…

Harry's eyes flew open. Not good.

'Blank…white…wall, dammit.'

Harry continued the chant to himself until he drifted into uneasy sleep.

_He was tied to a bed by rope, unable to move. He couldn't see around him, it was too dark. _

_A shadowed form approached him slowly, kneeling on the bed._

"_Who are you…?" he whispered. _

_A soft laugh met his ears. _

"_Whoever you want me to be." Came the response. Why was that voice so…familiar? The form crawled closer, until its face was right next to his. Male. Right. They were definitely male._

_He felt his lips being captured in a kiss, a deep, passionate kiss. Their lips were so soft, and so strong…he moaned softly despite himself._

"_Open your mouth…" demanded the voice softly._

_He eagerly did so, gasping as a soft tongue slid into his. He and this phantom boy kissed passionately for a few moments, before his mouth was released._

_He squinted, trying to make out in the darkness who this person was. But it was too dark._

_He felt that unbelievably soft tongue sliding down his neck, down his chest, floating over his stomach…when had he lost his shirt? He couldn't remember._

_They were licking his lower stomach, getting lower, and lower…he felt so warm, it felt so nice…_

_A sudden flash of light, and looking down, he saw a headful of silky smooth blonde hair. The head raised and he found himself gazing into two endless pools of grey._

_They smiled. "Hello, Harry."_

Harry awoke with a start. He stared at the ceiling, and slowly raised himself to sitting position. Glancing down, he saw he had a not-so-little problem to deal with.

There was only one thing he was capable of thinking, or saying.

"What the FUCK?"

_TBC_

**A.N: Oooo. Harry's having erotic dreams. Kinky.**

**I'm sorry if the dream sequence was crap. That's the first time I've written something like that, if that's any explanation…**

**Next chapter will feature a very confused and extremely pissed off Harry, and a somewhat bewildered Draco. Stay tuned!**

**Please review, and thanks for reading!**

**bleedingxheart**


	6. Finding The Answers

**AN: Hello again! Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter!**

**I saw Harry Potter 4 yesterday, and it was awesome. I went with all my friends, and next to the lineup a few of them re-enacted the duelling scene from the 2nd movie where it's like "Scared, Potter?" "You wish." It was funny, we got weird looks hahaha.**

**Hanyway. This chapter features an adorably confused and rather angry Harry, and a somewhat bewildered Draco.**

**So here we are, chapter 6.**

Finding the Answers

_Tuesday, October 17th_

Draco woke quite suddenly the next morning. Eyes jerking open, he frowned as he tried to think what could possibly have woken him so suddenly.

He turned his head to the left, and winced at the glowing red numbers of the alarm clock. 5:30. Hmm. Interesting.

Draco reached out and angrily swung the clock around to block out the glow of red, and then rolled over onto his back.

Shifting his legs slightly, he suddenly froze. The sheets in between his legs felt…well, sticky. He cautiously reached down and patted them, then inspected his boxers. Yep. Sticky.

He returned his hand and silently pondered. 5:30 on a school day and he was awake, why?

A mental image appeared suddenly, a leftover from his dream, which now he remembered it, had involved he and Harry partaking in acts of a sexual nature.

"Ah." Draco said out loud. So that's why. He must've woken after his dream had gotten good. Very, very good.

That mental image, actually, had, ah, renewed his interest.

Well, it wasn't like he had anything better to do.

Draco smirked, whispered a silencing charm and reached down.

All in all, a brilliant way to start his day.

HPDM

Harry was leaning against the wall at the top of his bed, rocking gently with his hands wrapped firmly around his legs. He didn't know what time it was. He had long ago stopped checking. For once, he was thankful for the Occlumeny lessons. For the past…well, however many hours it had been, he had concentrated on keeping his mind as blank as possible.

He didn't dare sleep. Sleep meant dreams. Bad dreams. And he didn't dare acknowledge his problem from many hours ago. No. He was resisting it all.

He moved his head slightly and took note of the time from the glowing red numbers of his alarm clock. 5:45. OK. He just had to maintain this for about another hour and 15 minutes and then everyone else would wake up and he could pretend he had been asleep too.

He allowed himself to wonder how, and why, he had had a dream like that. About who he did, as well.

'_I don't feel like THAT.'_ Harry argued with himself. _'I don't see him like that, I'm straight. I like girls. I love Ginny. And this is just a trick, a payback, and a nasty practical joke from Malfoy. He probably decided to break the truce and plant the dream in my head somehow.'_

Yes. That's all it was, a nasty, immature practical joke. Harry let the familiar anger from years past wash over him, welcoming it like an old friend.

He leaned his head back, sighing, and checked the alarm clock again. 5:50.

Harry allowed his head to thump against the wall, 1, 2, 3 times.

This would take awhile.

HPDM

Draco awoke once again, and after checking in with his friend the alarm clock, learnt it was 7:15. He must've fallen asleep after his last, ah, session.

Hearing the unmistakeable sounds of his housemates stirring, Draco figured he might as well get up now and possibly consider a shower.

He rolled over slightly, and started at the stickiness he felt in his boxers.

Make that definitely consider a shower.

Meanwhile, upstairs in Gryffindor boys dorm, Harry grimaced as he was brought out of his trance-like state by the sounds of 5 alarm clocks, shrieking together in shrill harmony.

He quickly scuttled beneath the covers of his bed and began to over-exaggerate the process of waking up, as his friends around him did the same thing, but genuinely.

Harry got up once he sensed Neville stagger to the bathroom, and moved to Ron's bed. After performing his usual waking-up-Ron routine, he retreated back to his bed and sat.

"M-mo-morning mate." Ron yawned, slowly forcing himself to sit up. "Sleep alright?"

Thankful for the fact it was still dark in the dorm and Ron could not see the bags under Harry's eyes, Harry replied, "Yeah, alright, thanks."

"That's the way." Ron said, grinning tiredly at him as he got up to begin getting ready.

Harry sighed quietly. It was going to be a long day.

HPDM

Hermione was pondering.

This might not seem like that big of news, because Hermione was always pondering something, but on this morning, with Harry looking so tired and disgruntled, and with all those glares he kept shooting over her shoulder at the Slytherins, she was pondering what had happened.

It was obvious to her that _something _had happened. Harry was by no means a morning person, but he usually managed to scrape together something resembling a pleasant mood in the mornings. Today, he was, to put it simply, looking thunderous. Someone was going to have hell to pay.

She remembered his weird behaviour the night before regarding Ginny. Actually, he had been acting weird for some time now. And he looked nothing short of dreadful with those bags under his eyes.

"Harry?" she questioned tentatively. "Did you sleep OK? You have bags under your eyes."

Harry absentmindedly felt them, trying to ignore the burning anger inside. He didn't want to lose control of himself and his magic here, at the table.

"Yeah, I slept alright. I just didn't get much sleep, that's all." Hermione noted his voice was shaking slightly.

"Are you OK, Harry? I'm worried about you." She stated.

Harry took a deep breath, having just made eye contact with the cause of his current state. It was getting too much. He had to get out of there.

"I'm fine, Hermione, really. I think I'll head for Potions early." He said quickly, grabbing his bag and getting the hell out of there, not noticing the cool grey gaze watching every move he made.

HPDM

Draco frowned as Harry left the Hall in a hurry. He was unnerved, every time he had casually glanced over to look at Harry, he had found green eyes burning into him murderously. And quite frankly, he didn't have the slightest clue why.

Deciding he would leave it be for now, Draco asked himself what class he had next. Immediately, he answered himself with Potions, with the Gryffindors.

With a soft sigh, he got to his feet and collected his bag, directing his steps back to where he came from, down to the dungeons for Potions.

Harry was sitting next to the door to the Potions classroom, taking deep breaths and trying to ignore the multiple voices in his head shouting different things at him. Briefly, he wondered if he was going insane. It certainly seemed like it.

He heard footsteps, and turning his head, saw Malfoy approaching. His eyes flashed with anger.

Draco walked towards the classroom, hands in pockets, watching the floor as he went past. He was reliving the glares he had received that morning, wondering if it was still worth trying to become friends with Harry first.

And then, a foot appeared in his line of vision, followed by a leg and he stopped short. The leg was attached to…er, hips, and a torso, a neck, tanned skin, soft lips…ending with bright emeralds which were currently staring at him.

Draco sucked in his breath. Yep, it was definitely still worth trying.

"Er…" Draco began awkwardly, and then stopped, realising he had no idea what to say. He gulped, and looking close, was slightly frightened to see those green eyes were currently glaring at him, with nothing short of pure hatred.

"Hello, Potter." Draco tried, smiling a very unsure smile.

Harry glared at Malfoy, letting only one voice come through in his mind – the one telling him he absolutely hated Malfoy, that Malfoy was bewitching him, the one that controlled his anger. And Harry was letting it take over his whole self.

"Malfoy." Harry spat with venom.

Draco blinked in bewilderment at the tone Harry used. He had to admit he was hurt by that response. Well OK, not hurt, more like crippled. With all body limbs broken.

Both boys started at the sound of other students approaching, and Draco moved swiftly away from Harry. Over the next few minutes, the rest of the class arrived, allowing Draco to pretend to be interested in Blaise's conversation, and Harry to stand quietly with his friends. He noted with interest that Hermione was peculiarly quiet. She was clearly thinking hard about something.

The door opened, and there stood Snape.

"Enter." He sneered, and the class silently filed in and took their seats.

He swept over to the desk, and stopped, gazing around at them all.

"As I have a headache," he said, "I want this to go as quickly as possible. I have run out of headache curing potion, and I have decided to pass this task to you all to make me some. I will however assign partners, because I can."

He began reading out a list of names, pairing Gryffindors with Slytherins smoothly. There was various muttering and complaining as people engaged in silent battles of being determined not to be the one in their respective pairs to move.

'_Honestly.'_ Draco thought with a roll of his eyes. _'Sev's become too predictable.'_

"Potter." Snape added an extra sneer. "You're with Malfoy."

Having already expected this, Harry resignedly began to gather his things, not even looking at Malfoy, and moved over to his desk down the front.

Draco inclined his head, trying to control himself. Harry was so close, right there next to him, if he moved his leg their knees would be touching, if he moved his hand 10 or 15 centimetres his hand would be covering Harry's…

Harry, meanwhile, wasn't thinking about that, but was instead trying to resist the urge to hex the prick beside him to hell and back. Somehow, in his head, he had convinced himself his behaviour from the past few days was because of an enchantment, a bewitchment, and that was all he would let himself think about.

"Begin." Snape said, and settled himself behind his desk with a grimace. The class began to organise their cauldrons, fetch ingredients and in some cases, sit there arguing about who would do what.

Draco decided to take a stab at semi-friendly conversation. "OK, I'll go get the ingredients if you can start preparing the cauldron. Is that alright?"

Harry nodded shortly, keeping his eyes averted from Malfoy's face. Draco sighed inwardly, and headed off to collect the required ingredients.

They had been working quietly for a quarter of an hour. Draco snuck sideways glances at Harry, who was working steadily, putting all concentration into what he was doing, which currently involved slicing up a Mibulus Mimbletonia and gathering the oil-like substance it excreted.

Draco noted that beneath the brilliant emeralds, there were dark, shadowed circles. And despite himself, he had to ask. He just had to.

"Hey Potter, why have you got circles under your eyes?"

Harry's hand slipped, the knife catching his thumb and causing a small cut. Draco was astounded to see a warm pink tinge was spreading across Harry's face…he was _blushing._

"Ow." Was all Harry said, very quietly, putting his thumb in his mouth and sucking the wound lightly.

Draco watched with slightly glazed eyes, noting the Potions classroom had certainly seemed so heated before.

Not noticing the reactions of the boy beside him, Harry removed his thumb and inspected. After finding the cut to be in a good enough condition, he stated quietly, "It's none of your damn business, Malfoy."

Harry picked his knife back up and went right back to steadily slicing and gathering the liquid.

Draco blinked, and then shook himself. Right. _They were in class. Potions. With Sev in close proximity. OK. Back to work, Draco._

Another silent 5 minutes passed. Harry was thinking hard. He had to ask Malfoy if he was bewitching him. But not be that obvious about it. Hmmm.

"Hey Malfoy?"

"Yeah?" Draco answered quickly.

"You know how we called that truce?"

"Yes."

"And the terms of the truce were to not needlessly attack and insult each other, etc?"

"Yes."

"You haven't by any chance done something to me anyway, despite the truce, have you?"

Harry winced as soon as the words were out of his mouth. Honestly, how much of an idiot did he want to be?

Draco's brain was going through a list of things he would like to do to Harry, which really wasn't helping the situation at all. Gathering himself, he answered.

"I don't understand what you mean, Potter. Are you asking if I've secretly executed another attack on you, despite the truce we called?"

"Yes."

"Why? What happened to make you think I've pulled a prank or something on you?"

To Harry's mortification, he was blushing again as, unbidden, images from the dream appeared in his mind's eye.

"Um, er, ah…well I won't go into detail, but lately I've just been acting…I mean, things have just been…it's like…last night I just…"

Draco waited patiently for Harry to form a comprehensible sentence.

"Look, last night I had a dream, the kind of which I have never had before on my own, and I suspected you had somehow played a part in it. You know, to throw me off, make me distracted, or possibly just out of pure malice."

Draco had a suspicion about exactly what kind of dream Harry was talking about, but he decided to spare him the embarrassment.

"Potter, I assure you, since the truce I have not done anything that could be considered an attack on you or any of your friends, so whatever's been happening to you is not my fault."

Harry searched Malfoy's cool grey eyes, looking for any sign of a lie. He found none.

Shit.

"Oh. Um. Okay. Never mind, then. Forget I said anything." Harry fell silent.

The two completed the lesson in silence, Draco trying to conceal his glee about the thought of what Harry did actually dream about, Harry trying desperately to think of any other reason why he had been acting and feeling like he had.

They handed in their potion, and as the bell rang, Draco turned to Harry and said softly, "See you round, Potter." He left the dungeons quickly.

Harry considered. He had woken up confused beyond his brain, then became unbelievably pissed off, and was now back to where he had started: confused beyond his brain.

His friends approached him, Hermione among them, who he couldn't help noticing was watching him beadily.

"Hey Harry, how was it with the ferret?" Ron asked.

Harry eyed the door, through which moments ago a headful of silky blonde hair had disappeared.

Turning back to Ron, he tried to smile. "It was alright, I guess."

Another image from the dream appeared. Pools of grey surrounded by soft blonde. He swallowed. "It was alright." He repeated softly.

_TBC_

**AN: There we go! Chapter 6.**

**Thank you for reading, and please review, I want to get to 50 reviews. **

**(Holds up a sign saying 'NO UPDATES UNTIL 50' and points sternly to it) You heard the sign.**

**bleedingxheart**


	7. Hermione's Discovery

**AN: Bonjour! I am currently on 52 reviews and I am very happy. You listened to the sign! Hooray! Thanks to everyone who reviewed and helped get me over that milestone.**

**Which reminds me, try not to ask questions when you aren't signing your review. It's kinda frustrating to not be able to answer you when I can't reply. **

**Here's chapter 7. Enjoy!**

Hermione's Discovery

_Tuesday, October 17th_

Voices echoed around the Great Hall. Talk, laughter, and occasionally insults bounced off the walls and back into each other, combining and melting into one giant mixing pot of noise and people.

The Slytherins were all having their polite, controlled conversations, huddled together according to social order. The Hufflepuffs were chatting and gossiping away merrily, oblivious to anything around them. Many of the Ravenclaws were reading, or just talking to their friends.

The Gryffindor table was by far the loudest of the tables. The lions were all chatting, laughing, shouting, teasing, and all of this took place with the loudest roars in the room.

At the centre of the table, where they always sat, were Harry and his friends. Ron was as oblivious as any Hufflepuff as he steadily ate his way through his 3rd helping of the casserole supplied for the evening's meal. Harry was sitting across from Ron, facing the rest of the hall, and occasionally distractedly poking the food in front of him, allowing his gaze to flick from the table over to the Slytherins. To Ron's left sat Hermione, who was thoughtfully watching her dark-haired friend's every move.

He seemed to have developed a steady system, Hermione observed. He would poke the casserole with a fork, and then pause, and stare at the table. After a brief hesitation, he would lift his head, and his eyes would flicker over to the Slytherins. Another few moments would pass, and he would then blush gently, resuming the study of the table. The food was then poked again, and the system started over.

It had been going on for at least 10 minutes and much to her annoyance, Hermione hadn't yet figured out what he looked at to cause that blush. Not because she hadn't tried, no, that wasn't it at all. It was more that there were just too many people in Slytherin to be looking at, and quite frankly, none he should be blushing about.

After Harry's unfortunate dinner had been poked for what must've been the 50th time, Hermione decided to say something.

She cleared her throat. "Harry?" she questioned gently.

The system was broken as Harry was snapped out of the first 'staring at the table' stage, and looked up at her.

Hermione took a moment to consider her friend. When he had come to Hogwarts, he had been a short, skinny little midget of a thing with a mop of dark hair and broken glasses. Hermione couldn't deny his appearance hadn't been all that impressive, but she was older and wiser now. She knew appearance was no measure of power. Since those early beginnings, he had changed. Well, all boys change when becoming teenagers, but honestly it seemed to her like the changes had affected Harry the most.

His unruly dark hair was still that, but it was fancibly so now. Slightly longer, messy, and she realised, very shiny and soft looking. His once pale skin had tanned, he was taller now and while he was by no means the most muscular boy around, he still had something to offer in that department. It was all summed up with the bright, glowing green eyes, with long dark lashes surrounding them. He still had his glasses, but Hermione had long since removed the need to tape them.

"Hermione?"

She was shook out of her ponderings by Harry's voice. She was slightly startled to hear it. Since Potions, he had barely said a word, instead remaining in a brooding silence. Now, his voice was slightly shaky, filled with confusion and weariness.

"Sorry, Harry." She smiled apologetically. "I just wanted to ask if you're feeling sick or anything? You haven't touched your food at all."

Her words seemed to take a long time to reach his ears, like everything else in the world had since his morning class. Harry blinked, slowly registering her concerns. He'd forgotten to eat. Naturally, about 10 or 15 minutes into the meal, she was allowed to be concerned.

He picked up his fork and resolutely speared a section of the casserole onto it, before taking a bite. Swallowing, he looked over at her.

"Better, Hermione?" he questioned.

Hermione gazed back at him, worried. She quickly flicked on a smile. "Yes, thank you Harry."

"I guess I'm just not feeling that hungry tonight, that's all." Harry lied. In truth, his stomach was rumbling, but it was barely registering in his slowed brain. All he could think about was the conversation he had had in Potions.

"_Potter, I assure you, since the truce I have not done anything that could be considered an attack on you or any of your friends, so whatever's been happening to you is not my fault."_

The calm, cool voice of Malfoy floated into his head. He closed his eyes, rubbing them desperately.

Another voice joined in. _'If it isn't Malfoy's fault you've been acting weird, what the hell actually is going on with you?'_

Harry groaned out loud, slowly lowering his head to the cool wood of the table and whacking his head on it, repetitively.

This brought the attention of Neville, Dean and Seamus, as they exchanged startled looks with each other and Ron and Hermione. Harry was slowly whacking his head on the table, muttering things they couldn't quite hear.

Hermione reached over and gingerly touched Harry's shoulder. "Harry?

For the second time that evening, Harry's head snapped up. He jumped away from the touch, staring wildly at her.

Hermione withdrew her hand, looking confused.

"What..oh. Sorry Hermione." Harry said, trying to smile convincingly. "Forgot what was happening for a moment there. Don't worry about me, I'm fine."

They all studied Harry for a moment, who gave them all a smile of reassurance and commenced eating his dinner, finally. This seemed to mostly soothe their concerns, and everyone resumed eating and talking. All, that is, except for Hermione, who continued to watch Harry out of the corner of her eye.

After 5 minutes or so of a typical, peaceful meal at the Gryffindor table, Hermione observed Harry's gaze once again flicking to the Slytherin table, only to return to his meal, another blush seeping over his cheeks.

'_I swear,'_ she thought grimly to herself, _'I will get to the bottom of this. Tonight. No more excuses.'_

HPDM

Draco Malfoy was very happy.

He was even scaring himself, he was so happy. There he sat, about midway up the Slytherin table, flanked by Crabbe and Goyle, (who were eating excessive amounts of food as usual), as he always had been before. But, he could not remember ever feeling so…happy.

His source of happiness came from the conversation he had had with a certain Gryffindor during Potions.

"_Look, last night I had a dream, the kind of which I have never had before on my own, and I suspected you had somehow played a part in it…"_

Draco smirked, remembering what Harry had said to him. Unless he was very, very much mistaken (and he sincerely hoped he wasn't) it sounded like Harry had had a…well, a _very _good dream indeed about him, Draco. And the idea that this had happened, when Draco hadn't even started to even try anything remotely close to wooing Harry…well, it was no wonder why he was so happy.

Blaise took the seat across from Draco, and began to talk about something or other to do with his mother. Draco nodded along, pretending to be listening, but in reality was sneaking glances over at Harry whenever he could.

After about 10 minutes, he saw Harry begin to whack his head on the table. Draco observed from his side of the room, with interest.

"Draco? What are you looking at?"

Draco grimaced inwardly. '_Shit. Blaise.'_

"Er…"

"Watching the enemy, were you Draco?" Blaise asked, turning his gaze over to the Gryffindor table as well and glaring daggers at Harry.

"Yeah." Draco said, relieved. "Yeah, that's right. Know thy enemy and all that."

"Good thinking." Blaise said, glowering one last time at Harry before turning back around to face Draco.

"So, enough about Potter. What are _you_ doing tonight, anyway?" Blaise said, the barest hint of suggestion in his tone. It was faint, but Draco caught it nonetheless.

Draco's perfectly manicured, pale eyebrows shot up. Straight up. Well. Blaise fancied him, it seemed.

"Well," he drawled, "I was planning on doing a bit of study, maybe in the library or something. _Private _study." He added pointedly.

Blaise had the barest hint of a smirk on his face now. "Well, I could help you with your, ah…_private _study, if you want."

Draco restrained himself from whacking his head on the table or whacking Blaise on the head, either sounded tempting.

"Maybe some other time." Draco said coolly, quickly gathering his things. "I have a mountain of work to do. _Goodnight, _Blaise." He added firmly when Blaise seemed ready to rattle off another double entendre, probably this time relating to something crude, like a mountain in his pants, or something equally vulgar.

He stood and, after straightening his robes, swept elegantly from the hall, distinctly feeling two pairs of eyes, one from the Slytherin table and one from the Gryffindor table, following him out.

HPDM

Harry watched Malfoy leave the hall. Once the doors had closed again, Harry turned dejectedly back to his friends. Ron was finishing off his dessert, but most unfortunately, it seemed Hermione was watching him beadily.

"What?" he questioned her, unnerved.

'_There is something going on…and I will find it out.'_ She promised herself silently, even as she shrugged at Harry.

"Nothing."

Choosing to ignore her behaviour, Harry sat quietly until all the others were finished. The group of friends stood and set off for their Tower.

The entire time, Harry never thought to wonder about where Ginny was.

Several hours later, most of the common room had emptied. Seamus, Dean and Neville had gone to bed, as well as Ginny (whom they'd found in the common room upon their return, and who had also kissed Harry goodnight, much to his newfound discomfort). Harry and his best friends were sitting in their favourite corner at their usual table.

Ron was attempting a long and difficult Herbology essay. Having had enough, he flung his quill onto the table and rolled up the parchment.

"Right, I'll finish this later. Don't give me that look Hermione, I _will._ G'night Harry, night Hermione."

"'Night Ron." Harry and Hermione answered, as Ron packed up his things and headed upstairs.

Harry took note of the slightly uncomfortable silence that fell between he and Hermione. He rifled through his book, searching for something to use in the essay.

"Harry?" Hermioned asked, deciding to seize this excellent opportunity.

Harry looked up slowly. "Yes?"

"I need to talk to you about something."

"What about, Hermione?" Harry said, pushing aside the book.

"Well…about…you, actually."

Harry was instantly guarded. "Yeah…?

"You…well, you've been acting weird for a few days now. I don't know. I mean, you did everything in your power to stop Ginny kissing you the other night. You said you were sick, and I know you weren't. This morning you looked ready to murder, and then after Potions you barely said a word. Tonight you were distracted, didn't touch your food for ages and, well, whacked your head on the table. I need to know, Harry. What's going on with you?"

Harry loved Hermione. No, not like _that. _He loved her dearly as a friend, like a sister, almost. He could understand from her point of view how confusing he must've seemed the past few days. But he couldn't answer the question, because he didn't know the answer. He honestly didn't know what was happening to him.

"Look, Hermione…" he began, sighing and running a hand through his hair momentarily.

"I've got to tell you I really, honestly do not have the slightest clue what's happening to me. I can't explain it to you, and I'm really sorry about that, but I can barely explain it to myself. Once I've figured it out, I'll tell you about it, I promise."

He gave her an apologetic look. Hermione was thinking.

"Well…" she said slowly, trying to figure it out for him, "From what you've been like, I would take a guess and say…hmm. Maybe you have a crush on someone and you haven't realised that's what it is yet?"

Harry choked on air.

"Although I suppose that's silly of me, considering you're with Ginny…well, Harry, I don't know, I really don't." Hermione said, exasperated.

"Well, I can definitely tell you, it isn't anything at all to do with that whole 'crush' thing you mentioned. No. Definitely not. I'm positive it isn't that at all." Harry babbled.

Hermione watched, puzzled and suspicious, as Harry began throwing things into his bag, looking quite simply like he had been run over by a bus, or a car, or a truck, or some other form of large transport.

'_He denied that awfully quickly…' _Hermione mused, as he stood up.

"Anyway Hermione, thanks for your concern and everything, but I'm fine. Really. I'll sort everything out. 'Night!' Harry said, dashing for the stairs.

"Night Harry." She called as he disappeared up them in a flash, leaving her alone in the common room.

She settled back in her chair and thought hard. Judging from his behaviour just then, Hermione was willing to guess she had just hit home with her theory about a crush. Harry had been desperate to throw her off that track, and judging from the look he'd had on his face, he probably hadn't even known that's what it had been either.

But now the more pressing question was, who was it? Who could it be that…

Suddenly, it clicked. Ever since the day they had called the truce, Harry had been acting odd. He had seemed distracted that day he came to dinner after going to the bathroom, and that night, he had tried to get out of kissing Ginny. He had been tired and extremely angry that morning, and after Potions, he had been silent. All through dinner he had kept looking at the Slytherin table…

The truce with Malfoy. Potions with Malfoy. All through dinner, not eating, looking at the Slytherin table containing Malfoy.

Malfoy.

Hermione blinked.

"_Well, that's a bit of a dilemma."_

_TBC_

**AN: Silly Harry. You'd think he should know that when your friends discover you have a crush, the last thing you should do is run away from them.**

**Yay Hermione! She figured it out, finally!**

**Thank you for reading, and please review!**

**Till next time,**

**bleedingxheart**


	8. Confronting Malfoy

**AN: Thanks so much to everyone who reviewed!**

**On with chapter 8!**

Confronting Malfoy

_Wednesday, October 18th_

"Harry, mate, you really should eat something."

Ron looked worriedly at his best friend, who was staring at the plate of scrambled eggs and sausages in front of him on the table like he couldn't comprehend what was before him. Harry gave no sign he'd heard what Ron had said, just sat still and stared.

Ron turned to Hermione in frustration. "Ever since we all got up this morning, he's been like this. He just doesn't respond."

Hermione sighed. She had been afraid of this.

It hadn't been too hard to realise what had been wrong with Harry for the last few days had been a crush. And remembering now how he had babbled a steady stream of words letting her know he definitely didn't have a crush, it was obvious. Harry was in looooove.

But the slightly harder part had been realising whom with. And Hermione thought she knew who exactly it was.

She glanced over at the Slytherin table, and swiftly located Draco Malfoy, who was sitting and eating quietly.

Hermione had spent most of the night pondering the newest development in their lives. She had tried at first to look at it from the point that Harry really and genuinely did have a crush on Malfoy. For the first half of the night, anyway.

As for the second half, it had occurred to her that Harry's feelings had changed very quickly. So quickly, in fact, there was every possibility he was under a Love Potion, or maybe some kind of spell or enchantment that produced similar effects.

Hermione had known it seemed a bit far-fetched, but then again, at 3am, anything makes sense.

It had left her wondering who had done this to her poor Harry, to make him like his rival. Luckily, Hermione had come up with an answer for that one, too. It seemed obvious. Malfoy was, after all, a dickhead with a huge ego. She was willing to bet that he would love the idea of Harry humiliating himself by declaring how much he loved Malfoy.

Well, Hermione was not going to stand by and watch her best friend be hoodwinked, and eventually humiliated. She was not going to let him continue to drown in a forced misery. She was going to confront Malfoy, make him admit to whatever it was he was doing to Harry, and force him to make it stop. Then Harry would be fine, and he and Ginny would be fine.

Harry still hadn't moved. Ron was watching him, a little sadly.

"He's here, but he's not here." Ron commented. "None of us could figure it out."

"Speaking of the others…" Hermione realised Seamus, Dean and Neville were conspicuously absent. "Where are they?"

"Still getting ready." Ron replied with a roll of his eyes. "I got dressed quickly, because I wanted to bring Harry to you to help us figure out what's wrong with him."

Hermione decided she wouldn't let Ron know her suspicions yet. If they proved correct, she would tell him. Maybe. Probably not, actually. As much as she disliked Malfoy, Hermione didn't want anyone to be killed.

"Alright. Let me try, then." Hermione said. Ron switched seats with her, so she was the one now beside Harry.

"Harry." She said gently, waving a hand in front of his face. "Harry, come on. You're starting to scare us."

Harry heard her voice, and the concern in it. He saw her hand in front of his face. He was aware of these things, but all he could think of was Hermione's revelation the night before, regarding him and a crush.

He'd furiously denied it to himself at first, lying there in his bed. He'd argued over his feelings for Ginny, how Malfoy was an annoying prick, how he was straight…but it had all led back to the same conclusion Hermione had arrived at.

He had a crush.

After hours of this process, it finally hit home that maybe, just maybe, Hermione was indeed correct on this one like she was on every aspect of things. This thought had sent his brain into a numb, shutdown mode, and he hadn't slept a wink for the rest of the night.

That morning, when the other guys had tried to coax a response from him, he'd found he just couldn't do it. The shock was too much. He'd barely even acknowledged Ginny on the way out of the Common Room with Ron, something that his insides were squirming with guilt over.

"Just say something. Tell me you can hear me."

Harry licked his dry lips slowly. His throat felt scratchy. He really, really didn't feel well. But he knew he shouldn't worry her any further.

"I can hear you, Hermione." He replied.

Hermione sighed with relief, and then frowned. His voice had sounded unpleasantly rough and scratchy.

As if reading her mind, Ron had reached for a nearby jug of pumpkin juice, and poured Harry a goblet. He pushed it into Harry's hands.

"Drink, mate. It'll help your voice."

Harry drank obediently, feeling at least some of the soreness in his throat go away.

"Will you be alright to go to classes today, Harry?" Hermione asked.

Harry nodded.

"Good."

The other Gryffindor boys entered the Hall at this point, and they joined the table. Breakfast went ahead as usual until the time came for them to leave for their first class of the day, which was Charms.

Harry stood and gathered his things, the others quickly following suit. They left the Great Hall, his friends chatting, with Harry following them at a slightly slower pace, trying hard not to think too much.

HPDM

Draco smiled to himself as he left his last class of the day, Transfiguration. He had managed to successfully complete the task Professor McGonagall had set them, so he didn't get stared at with disapproval for once. Harry had most likely had a kinky dream about him. What else could he want?

Flanked by Crabbe and Goyle, the three set out from the classroom. Draco was humming mildly, thinking of a wonderful moment where he had made eye contact with Harry between classes earlier, when a voice called out to him down the corridor.

"Malfoy!"

Draco turned, and saw Granger hurrying towards him. He watched her approach resignedly.

"I need a word with you." Her brown eyes flicked to Crabbe and Goyle on either side of him. "A private word." She added pointedly.

They blinked slowly, as though not comprehending what was happening.

"You heard her. Go on ahead to the Great Hall, I'll catch you up." Draco instructed them. Having heard something they could understand, the two ambled off, not daring to disobey direct orders.

Draco turned back to Granger. "What is it you want to talk to me about, Granger?" he asked, keeping his tone coolly polite. After all, if he was to eventually be with Harry, he would have to have the best relations possible with Harry's friends.

"I need to talk to you about Harry." She stated calmly, and then glanced around. Spotting a nearby door, she inclined her head towards it. "Shall we continue this discussion in there?"

Draco nodded, and followed her through the door, which turned out to lead into an unused classroom. Granger closed and locked the door, then turned to him.

"Right. Well, first thing's first. Harry has been acting rather strangely lately. Ron and I have both been concerned about him. He is going out with Ginny, and yet the past two times they've encountered, he's tried to get out of having to kiss her."

Draco worked very, very hard to keep the glee off his face.

"Now, this hasn't happened before. It's only really started, actually, ever since we successfully made that truce with you on Saturday. He blew off Ginny that night. Yesterday morning, he was as angry as I've ever seen him. Then we have Potions, he gets partnered with you, and for some reason after that, he isn't angry anymore. He's confused instead And then distracted. Like he's off in another world, thinking about something else. Or, someone else."

She paused, and looked at him seriously. "I had had enough, so last night I asked him what was wrong with him. He told me he didn't know himself, and once he figured it out he would inform me. I thought about it and made a random guess, that maybe he had a crush on someone and he hadn't realised that's what it was. He freaked. He fled. I put some vital clues together. I thought about what Harry's like. I'm not stupid, Malfoy."

Draco stared at her, mouth half open. He honestly didn't know what the hell Granger was talking about. All he registered was that Granger thought Harry had an undiscovered crush.

"I mean, I know you were an egotistical prick, Malfoy, but this is just a new low, even for the likes of you."

Draco shook his head slowly, still staring incredulously at her. "What the hell are you on about, Granger?"

"I'm talking about how Harry's been acting weird. Like he's in love. Or at least in like. And all the clues point to it being you. I ask myself, who in Hogwarts would want Harry to be in love with them? And I answer myself - you."

_'Shit. She knows. She's worked it out._' Draco thought frantically, feeling his stomach plummet. _'She's realised how I feel and…'_

"Not for the good reason, though. You're not doing this because you like him back. No, you want him to be like that because you wanted to see him humiliate himself by, I don't know, telling you he likes you in public! You've put an enchantment or something on my best friend and if you do not see it removed right this instant, I will report you to the Headmaster." Hermione said boldly, brown eyes sparkling with fury.

Draco stared at her. Ho-kay. This was getting weird. Granger thought he had put an enchantment Harry, to make Harry like him, which he hadn't, so-

Draco's eyes widened as it registered. Hang on. Harry was showing signs that led Granger to believe Harry liked him. Granger blamed this on an enchantment, cast by him, Draco. Draco had cast no such thing, which meant whatever signs Granger thought Harry was showing, were…

…_genuine._

If he didn't love Harry so much, he could've kissed Granger right then, he really could've.

Although judging from the look in her eye at that point, he thought maybe they could forgo that. Just for a bit.

He took a deep breath, finding it difficult to contain his joy. "Granger, I'm sorry, but you have it wrong. I didn't put any enchantment or spell or potion or anything on Potter. I swear to you I didn't. Malfoys keep their word, Granger, and I gave Potter my word we would not needlessly fight anymore. What you're accusing me of falls underneath that category. If I am anything, Granger, I am a Malfoy. I didn't do anything to him."

"But-" Granger opened her mouth furiously to retort, but Draco held up a hand.

"Believe me or not, Granger, I know what the truth is. If you're as smart as you always act, you should realise the truth as well."

With that, Draco unlocked the door and swept from the room.

HPDM

Harry leant back on his chair, observing those in the Hall. Smiling, laughing, happy faces, everywhere he looked. He wondered how many of those smiles were fake.

Ron, Dean, Seamus and Neville sat around him, eating and laughing the same way as everyone else. He wanted to join in. He really did. But something in him just didn't want to be like that tonight.

He yawned. He was really tired. He hadn't slept at all the previous night, after all.

"Guys?" Harry said.

They paused in their laughter and conversation to look at him.

"I'm going to leave, I need to get to sleep early."

"Early?" Dean said, confusedly checking his watch. "It's only 8:00. Even early thinks that's early."

"I know." Harry replied, picking up his bag and standing. "I'm really tired. Goodnight, guys."

"Night, Harry." The others chorused, and returned to their meal, but Ron caught Harry's arm before he could leave.

"You sure you're alright, mate?" he questioned in a low voice. "You were acting really weird this morning."

"Yes, I'm fine, Ron." Harry murmured back. "I just had really bad nightmares last night, and got barely any sleep."

"Ohhh." Ron made a noise of comprehension. "Is that why you were so unresponsive and everything? Were they that bad?"

"Yes." Harry lied, wincing as he did. He hated lying to Ron, but it was necessary. "I've never gotten them two nights in a row, though, so I'm eager to get to bed."

"Of course." Ron nodded with sympathy. "Sorry to hold you up. Have a good sleep, Harry."

"Thanks. Night." Harry said, finally breaking free and heading for the doors.

He hadn't noticed Ginny hadn't been present for this dinner either.

HPDM

Harry eventually found himself in the a 2nd floor corridor. He ambled along, looking at the portraits, who were still awake. Some waved, and some called greetings. Harry smiled vaguely at them, but otherwise made no further attempt to respond.

He passed a portrait of a short, fat little wizard with a lot of white hair, who was trying to catch his attention, and continued past a door, which was ajar.

He froze when he heard a voice he recognized come from the room inside.

Cautiously, he stepped towards the door, nudging it open gently. It didn't take long to spot them.

Malfoy and Zabini. Malfoy was leaning against a desk, with Zabini leaning over him. Harry couldn't quite hear exactly what they were saying. He moved a tiny bit further into the room.

He heard Zabini say something like "Want you so much, Draco." Harry couldn't hear exactly what the reply was from Malfoy, although he sounded angry.

Suddenly Zabini leant over and kissed Malfoy hard, pushing him up against the desk. He was holding Malfoy's head in his hands, and attempting to pin Malfoy's legs against the desk with his own.

Harry felt something flood through him. It was hard to describe what the feeling was exactly, but it felt like a hot, violent wave crashing through him from head to toe, then returning in his chest to settle and bubble. Harry watched the scene as though it was in slow motion, feeling his eyes prickling with hot, angry tears, and his head begin to spin. He could feel his magic joining in with the wave, shooting through his body, bubbling, about to overload.

The room's lights began to flicker slightly as Harry clenched his fists and gritted his teeth, feeling the tears fall down his face. He could think of only one thing to do - run for it. Which was exactly what he did, turning and sprinting down the corridor.

"I don't care if you want me, Blaise, I don't…"

Draco was silenced as Blaise leant forwards and captured his lips in a heated kiss. He felt numbed, he could sense legs pushing against his, he could feel hands on his head, but it was like his body had just stopped functioning with the sudden shock.

The temperature in the room rose suddenly, and Draco saw the lights flickering. His senses came back to him, and he shoved Blaise off him, furiously wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. He glanced at the door, which was slowly beginning to close. Without even looking at Blaise, he ran to the door and looked down the corridor.

With a sinking heart, he saw a mop of dark hair and the corner of black robes whip around the corner towards the end and out of sight.

If that was who he thought it was, and who he thought it was had seen what Draco thought he did…

"Oh, fuck me dead." Draco swore in a rare loss of control.

"Can I?"

Draco promptly turned and deftly hexed Blaise with a lazy flick of the wand. Turning back, he leant his head against the door, feeling his heart pounding and cheeks burning. He was embarrassed, furious, and worried.

Not knowing what else to do, he did the first thing his heart told him to - which was to find Harry and comfort him.

Draco set off down the corridor at a run.

_TBC_

**AN: Hermione made an INACCURATE GUESS ABOUT SOMETHING? Shock! Horror!**

**She doesn't seem to be able to grasp the concept that Harry is anything but straight, and in a loving relationship with Ginny, does she? Poor dear. Well, that's going to change soon, if I have anything to do with it. Bahahahahaha!**

**Thanks for reading, and please review!**

**See you next time!**

**bleedingxheart**


	9. What Draco Malfoy Deserves

**AN: Thanks very, very much to everyone who reviewed, and I'm sorry I haven't updated. In my defence, I've had a lot to think about, with dramas with friends, plus the Green Day concert I went to.**

**So, here's** **Chapter 9. Warning: This chapter contains the first of the slash scenes in this fic, however mild. It also contains a lot of angst. Enjoy!**

What Draco Malfoy Deserves

_Wednesday, October 18th_

Harry ran.

He didn't see the people he bumped into as he ran, nor did he hear their indignant cries. He didn't know where he was going. He was beyond caring. All that mattered was that he got as far away from what he had just witnessed as possible.

Whirling around yet another corner, he saw a door to the right. Not even bothering to stop and think about it, he hurled himself through, crashing into the room on the other side. He realised it was the Charms classroom, which was empty as all the students were at dinner.

Harry registered also the fact it was very dark and shadowed in the room, even though it wasn't really properly evening yet. None of the torches were lit. This suited him perfectly, however – no one would be able to see him.

He leant against a wall opposite the door and let himself slowly slide down it. He allowed, too, the hot tears to fall, and his body to shake with sobs.

He'd stay here forever, and no one would ever know.

HPDM

Draco was frantic. He had ran after the robes he had seen whip around the corner, turning in whatever direction felt right, and he now had no idea where Harry had gone.

He had to stop. It was getting painful to continue running.

He bent over, clutching the stitch that had happily formed on his right side and growled angrily under his breath. He cursed Blaise, he cursed Harry, he cursed his stupid stitch and he cursed those who had built Hogwarts to be so bloody big with so many bloody shortcuts and corridors.

Closing his eyes, Draco allowed a soft sob to escape him. All he could think was what he had done. Harry had seen him kissing another guy. It had been completely and totally against Draco's wishes, but Harry wouldn't have had a way to know that. If what Granger had said to him earlier had any truth in it, it sounded like Harry had been starting to feel something for Draco. And like the fucking idiot he was, he had screwed it up.

"_Not if I can help it."_ Draco thought determinedly, straightening up. He wasn't going to let what could be the greatest thing in his life get away because of a misunderstanding.

Draco set off again, slower than before with a light jog, listening carefully. Harry may be the saviour of the wizarding world and all that, and Draco had to admit he was more physically sound than most, but even he would've had to stop running by now. And if Draco knew his love, which he did, he was willing to guess that Harry would've found somewhere to collect himself…or cry, either way.

Draco paused occasionally, listening carefully, not really caring about the weird looks he received from those that walked past him. All of him was focused on finding Harry.

Finally, after turning yet another corner, he noticed a door on the right was slightly ajar. Draco paused outside it, listening. He was almost certain he could hear the faint sound of sobbing from within. He felt his heart clench. He knew he was the reason behind those sobs.

Gritting his teeth and preparing himself, he slowly pushed the door open, stepping into the darkened shadows of the room. The torches were not lit, and therefore it was nearly pitch black.

Draco began to move further inside, stepping cautiously, heading towards the soft sound of sobbing coming from the opposite wall.

Harry heard the door open. He saw the small sliver of light from the corridor outside snake its way into the room, along with a person. In the darkness, there was no way in hell Harry would be able to see who it was.

He cried still, tears seeming to come from a place deep inside him, like an endless pool, but he listened at the same time. He could hear, and feel, the other presence in the room approaching him, albeit slowly.

So, Harry continued to cry, and waited.

Draco did his best to control his breathing as he blindly made his way towards Harry. He didn't want to scare him, after all.

He finally paused when the sobs seemed to be coming from the area near the ground, directly in front of him. He reached out a hand, and felt the cool, smooth stone of a wall. Congratulating himself, Draco crouched down, and stared desperately into the darkness, willing himself to see Harry's face.

On an impulse, Draco reached his hand out into the seemingly endless abyss of dark in front of him. Inch by inch, it moved until his hand came into contact with skin, soft, smooth skin.

Harry inhaled sharply when he felt a hand brush over his forehead. All thoughts of sobbing gone, his entire body froze at the contact. The hand felt soft and cool, but it was a pleasant cool. It moved slowly upwards, sliding into his hair, and then through his hair, almost lazily sifting through the tangles.

Harry stayed completely still. He closed his eyes, almost against his will, at the feeling of the hand in his hair. It left that area, slowly returning itself to his forehead, and ghosted over his eyes and eyebrows. Harry shivered when it slowly, lovingly smoothed the tears that had fallen along his cheeks, brushing them away.

The fingers continued down, tracing his skin until they lit upon his top lip. Immediately, Harry found his mouth being outlined and stroked, carefully. He closed his eyes, drawing in a deep, shaky breath.

"Who are you?" He murmured.

Draco knew he was dreaming. He had to be. None of the situations in real life he had ever been in or could ever hope to be in would ever come close to this occurrence. Harry would never allow this to happen if this was reality.

Draco felt his heart sink in disappointment. It had been so good, thinking it was real.

Well, even if it wasn't, he was going to let his dream-self enjoy himself as much as it was possible to.

Upon hearing Harry's shaky question, Draco did the only thing that made sense. The only thing that seemed right. The only thing he could do, as he was just unable to answer the question verbally.

He leaned forward, taking Harry's face in his hands, and gently pressed his lips to Harry's.

Harry's lips weren't responding yet, but Draco didn't need them to. He kissed Harry with everything he had, hands sliding into the inky black hair as he knelt before him.

Suddenly, cautiously, Harry began to respond to Draco's administrations, and Draco couldn't help but grin against Harry's mouth. Yes, this was how things were meant to be. Harry's lips against his, his hands in Harry's hair. This was his nirvana.

Before Draco could begin to work on getting Harry's mouth open a little bit more to slide his tongue in, Harry pulled away. Draco made a noise of frustration and moved to regain Harry's lips, but Harry held out his hands, catching Draco's chest and pushing him back.

"I need to know who you are." He said, and before Draco could move, or even say anything, Harry had pulled out his wand and raised it.

"Lumos." He whispered, and bright yellow light flared immediately from the tip of Harry's wand, dancing over the floor and the wall, and very clearly illuminating…

"MALFOY?" Harry gasped, as the light revealed grey eyes, soft, silky white-blonde hair and a pale, handsome face, which was admittedly being made less so by the look of fear upon it.

Draco gulped. Oh dear.

"You…it was…you mean I just kissed YOU?" Harry cried, getting to his feet very quickly.

Draco followed suit, hastily brushing any dust off his robes.

"Harry…"

"Don't you dare use my first name, _Malfoy._" Harry's voice was shaking. By the soft light glowing from the wand Harry still clutched in his hand, Draco could see the bright green eyes swimming with tears. Not thinking, he reached forward, concerned, and intent on making it better.

Harry shoved him, hard. So hard that Draco nearly fell over. He looked, surprised and frightened, at Harry, who was now breathing erratically. Draco never realised how physically strong Harry was when he wanted to be.

The air was crackling with magic. The temperature in the room was dropping rapidly, and Draco began to shiver, both from the cold and fear at the sight of his Harry, eyes glowing with venom, as he advanced on Draco.

"Don't touch me, Malfoy. After you were in that room, kissing that…_Zabini..._" Harry hissed the last word, glaring into Draco with pure hatred. "How, and _why_ you think you can just find me and take advantage and _kiss _me after you kissed him, I just…I HATE you, Draco Malfoy." Harry spat.

Draco's head was spinning. His mind was reeling with all the new information. No. This wasn't happening. Harry hadn't just said that.

"I hate you Malfoy, everything about you!" Harry screamed suddenly.

It was strange, how much a broken heart hurt. Harry hadn't really ever experienced one, although through his endless silent observations over the years, he had been good at picking up on the physical signs. Bags under the eyes. Eyes rimmed red. Signs of a lapse of personal hygiene, sometimes, but not all the time.

But although the visible signs were there in the people he'd observed, Harry had known nothing of the others – the ones you cannot see, the emotional ones. Until now.

He was so confused, he just didn't know where to begin. It had hurt so much to see Malfoy kissing another guy, even if the sensible voice in Harry's head said it had probably been against Malfoy's will. He had had strange thoughts in his head – wishing he could just die so he wouldn't have to endure this. His heart hurt.

And even though all the signs were now not so much as pointing to, but shoving in his face, the fact that Harry at the very least had a severe crush on Malfoy, somehow, he still couldn't accept it. There was still a part in his mind telling him it shouldn't have hurt so much to see Malfoy with another person, telling him he shouldn't care so damn much.

It all ended up with Harry broken-hearted, more confused than he had ever been, and in severe denial, still. Unable to express his emotions, they had turned into something more simplistic, easier to understand. Rage. Hatred. And Harry was throwing everything he had into that.

"You are the most despicable, self-centred, low, cowardly, horrible prick of a person I have ever had the misfortune to know about." Harry snarled, eyes wild. "I never want to see you again. I never want to talk to you again. And I definitely advise you not to try and talk to me again, if you know what's good for you."

He shoved Malfoy, hard, once again in the chest. This time, he really did fall over, landing with an ungrateful thud on the ground.

Draco looked up at his love, tears poring freely. To hell with all the damn rules of the House of Malfoy. Who gave a damn what generations before him had done. Who cared if Malfoys shouldn't express emotions? Draco had them. And he was very happily going to express his.

Harry stalked past him, heading towards the sliver of light coming from the door. He paused, and turned back around.

"I…I just…you could die the worst death imaginable, Malfoy, for all I care. We both know you deserve it."

The door slammed as Harry left, leaving Draco to complete and total darkness.

Inside and out.

HPDM

Hermione was just about ready to explode, she was so frustrated. She sat with Ron, chin in hands, staring unseeingly at the fireplace. Ron was enthusiastically hoeing into a packet of Chocolate Frogs Seamus had given him, claiming he didn't want them. Hermione tried to ignore the sound of chewing, as she was _trying _to _think._

Again, she went over the events of that evening in her mind. She had done what she thought she needed to do – she had gone to Malfoy, confronted him without fear. Told him how she was onto him, even went so far as to threaten to turn him into the Headmaster.

And much to her irritation, Malfoy had gone ahead and rebutted every single thing she had said! As much as she hated it, every time she remembered that part of the conversation, she remembered cool grey eyes, filled with disbelief, _amusement _(something that was now particularly a sore spot) and joy, for some strange reason.

Hermione rubbed her temple, where an ache was beginning a steady rhythm. She couldn't for the life of her comprehend why, upon hearing what she had said, Malfoy had reacted with joy. No, the thing she was most worried about was what else she had seen, when Malfoy had defended himself.

Not a trace of a lie.

And that idea, the idea that Malfoy wasn't lying, and Harry was acting like that of his own accord…

Well, that was the most disconcerting idea of all.

Speaking of Harry…

"Have you seen Harry, Ron?" she asked him.

Ron glanced up at her over his pile of empty wrappers and cards, mouth clearly full.

"Um…" he swallowed hurriedly. "He left dinner, before you got there. He said he was going to go to bed early. He said the reason he was acting so weird this morning was because he had nightmares last night, and didn't want to tell us."

'_Right, nightmares.' _Hermione thought sceptically. _'More like I delivered the truth to him.'_

"Anyway, I assume he's up there, asleep." Ron selected another Chocolate Frog. "Best not to disturb him, I reckon."

"Right, right." Hermione said distractedly, already returning to her musings.

HPDM

Draco saw black.

He had been unable to see anything _but _black for the past 10 minutes or so.

He couldn't see anything. Not seeing anything meant not having to recognize something that could make these feelings worse.

He distractedly raised a hand to his mouth, tracing it. His lips still tingled from their touch against Harry's. He breathed in shakily, imagining that the scent of Harry still lingered in the dark air. Imagining Harry was still here, right next to him.

Draco had cried. He had sobbed. And now, he had reached a stage of quiet acceptance. Harry hated him. The one he loved hated him. Right. Well, that's always a bugger. Better luck next time.

The words played in a continuous loop in his head. '_I hate you, Draco Malfoy…everything about you! …You could die the worst death imaginable, for all I care. We both know you deserve it.'_

Deserve it. Those words had been spoken with such pure hatred and sincerity Draco believed them. He deserved it.

Quietly, he got to his feet and left the old classroom in a daze. He deserved it.

He began to aim his steps towards the route that would take him up, and up, as high as you can go.

People brushed against him as they walked past, trying to get to wherever they were going before curfew. A couple bumped into him, knocking him slightly to the side. They apologized. He didn't hear them. He deserved it.

He walked past Blaise, who immediately began yelling at him for hexing him. Draco didn't care about that. Nothing was worth caring about. He deserved it.

He was in a trance. He deserved it.

Draco finally reached the corridor leading to the Astronomy Tower, and began making his slow way along it. He had all the time in the world. To prove it. He deserved it.

Reaching the door leading to the Tower, he opened it and began climbing the stairs, body automatically taking him up, and up, and up. He reached the top, and, craning his neck, admired the stars. So pretty. He didn't deserve them.

Returning his head to normal position, he contemplated the edge of the tower. He deserved that.

He was halfway across when a noise caught his attention.

A giggle.

A _female _giggle.

Draco tiredly turned his head towards the sound.

"No, stop it J – oh, do that again."

Draco froze. He recognized that voice. He knew it well. He _hated _that voice.

Female Weasley. Harry's girlfriend.

His footsteps went towards the sound, which grew progressively louder as he got closer.

And so it was in a dark, shadowy corner on the top of the Astronomy Tower, Draco found Ginny, supposedly Harry's devoted girlfriend, quite happily snogging Justin Finch-Fletchley.

Draco felt anger, unlike anything he had ever felt before, rise within him. His breathing became erratic. His grey eyes narrowed, and he ground his teeth together.

"Having fun, Weaselette?

Ginny froze. Slowly, she detached herself from Justin, and turned her head to find Draco Malfoy, silver eyes blazing, giving her One Hell Of A Death Glare.

They locked eyes for a brief moment before Draco turned abruptly on his heel, and stalked away, heading for the staircase. The Weaselette was going to have hell to pay. She actually _had _Harry, and he wasn't good enough. Well, she was nothing but scum. She didn't deserve Harry. She didn't deserve Harry's love at all.

Draco reached the bottom of the staircase, flung open the door and proceeded down the hall.

_He _deserved it.

_TBC_

**AN: Alrighty! There we go. Hope you all enjoyed that.**

**Isn't Harry just the biggest drama queen? Poor Draco. It'll come good soon, though, don't worry. **

**So Ginny's cheating on Harry! How rude. Poor Harry will have to endure another hurt. Why do I do these things to him? I don't know lol**

**Anyway. Merry Christmas everyone, for 3 days time!**

**bleedingxheart**


	10. The Letter

**AN: Hallo! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, everyone, and welcome to 2006 and another chapter of this story.**

**Thanks so much to everyone who's reviewed this story, because I now have 100 reviews, which I'm very very happy about!**

**So, here's chapter 10. Enjoy!**

The Letter

_Wednesday, October 18th_

Every school has its different stereotypes. The bad boy, everyone's hero, the nerd, the pretty and dumb girl. Hogwarts was no exception. Name it and you would find the human counterpart somewhere in the school. The slut, for example, was Pansy Parkinson. No-one, especially her past conquests, would contend that.

Ginny Weasley was the hot, popular but taken girl. For any of the boys who didn't fancy joining the ranks of those who had been in Pansy's pants, she was the alternative. And considering what Pansy was like, the alternative was a very popular choice.

Perhaps it was being the youngest of the Weasley family that had instilled a deep-seated craving for attention and acceptance inside Ginny. Maybe she was just vain, and loved the fact she could have any guy she wanted in a heartbeat.

But Ginny was so proud of herself, because finally, finally, she had seized Harry-freaking-Potter as a boyfriend. She couldn't remember being more content then when she was walking down the corridors with Harry, all eyes on her, because she was Harry Potter's girlfriend. There had been nasty rumours since then, of course, no doubt spread by jealous cows that were trying to make themselves feel better because she had what they didn't. But it all added up to the same thing – in Hogwarts, Ginny Weasley was hot property.

She knew she didn't _love _Harry. That was asking a bit much of a 15 year old teenage girl, even when your partner is the Boy-Who-Lived himself. Certainly she liked him – he was famous, good-looking and fairly intelligent, helping her with homework when she needed it. But love?

She had to admit, even she had been stumped when she had tried to kiss Harry on Monday, and he had basically done the non-verbal equivalent of 'Get the hell away from me, you are disgusting'. Unfortunate too, that this took place in the heart of the Lion's Den. Honestly, some of the younger students just couldn't keep stuff to themselves. It was quickly spread through the school that Ginny Weasley and Harry Potter, whilst not yet on the rocks, seemed to be approaching them.

Some believed it – some didn't. She was swamped with enquiries and flirty conversations with male classmates, practically drenched in attention. And dammit, Ginny loved it. She wanted more. Perhaps the way to do that would be to cause a stir among the students – a bit of good old controversy.

So at breakfast the day before, she had closed her eyes and randomly pointed anywhere. Her finger had landed on Justin Finch-Fletchley. When she saw he was leaving the hall, she threw excuses to her friends and went after him.

Finally cornering him on the second floor corridor, she went straight to him and asked if he had heard the rumours about herself and Harry. Justin answered with a slight shake in his voice that yes, he had. Ginny informed him that she and Harry had hit the rocks and she was so broken up, she just needed someone to care about her.

She'd almost rolled her eyes at how eagerly that crap was lapped up. Justin immediately launched into declarations of long-term love, and how beautiful and sweet and pure she was and how he had always wanted to be able to witness that close up, blah blah blah.

Ginny had almost considered backing out and choosing someone else, but Justin was who she had selected, and she would set about proving that Ginny Weasley could get whoever the hell she wanted, and could do whatever the hell she wanted, consequences be damned.

So she and him, for lack of a better word, had hooked up. Ginny arranged it for during dinner when no one would know, and she had to say, as full of mindless romantic crap as he was, Justin was a damn good kisser.

She had returned to the common room quickly, before Harry, Hermione and her brother had came back from the evening meal, and had sweetly kissed him goodnight like nothing had happened. It felt very satisfying, having the boyfriend she did (even if he didn't kiss back with as much enthusiasm) and a Hufflepuff toy who was positively gaga for her. She felt powerful.

Today, she had quickly made the arrangements for a more lengthy meeting with Justin at the Astronomy Tower. They had met up without any troubles, and quickly found a nice little corner for themselves. It was all going perfectly.

Until Draco Malfoy had turned up, that is.

Ginny frowned. Having sent Justin away, she was here on the Tower, considering what the newest events would mean for her.

In a way, she supposed it was a good thing Malfoy had found them. Surely he would love nothing more than to cause Harry pain, and thus would make sure everyone knew by tomorrow. Resulting in Harry finding out tomorrow as well.

Ginny took deep, calm breaths as she studied the skies idly. If she just went along with everything that happened, it would be fine. Perhaps even try to play the victim, gaining sympathy, attention and even more admirers.

She laughed to herself. Fate just seemed to love her. Well, she couldn't really blame it. Everyone did, after all.

HPDM

Draco had been storming the halls for half an hour or so, and still hadn't thought of what to do. Perhaps if his brain wasn't swamped with rage and hatred for that red-haired little _slut_, he might be able to think.

All right, so the Weaselette was cheating on Harry. For how long, it didn't matter. All that mattered was she was doing it. Harry had to be informed, otherwise he would go on, oblivious to what his girlfriend was doing, and be made an absolute fool of.

Not if Draco could help it, he wouldn't.

If he were anyone else, Draco would go straight to Harry and tell him the truth. As he was Draco Malfoy, Harry's rival and not really Harry's favourite person at the moment, he would have to find another way to send the message.

Then, it hit him, so hard that he stopped completely.

Granger.

He set off again, this time without the blind rage in his step, but focus, determination. He had a mission and damned if he wasn't going to make sure it succeeded.

Malfoys _always _succeeded.

He arrived at the Slytherin common room, which still had small groups of Slytherins scattered here and there. Ignoring them, he swept up the stairs to the dorm, where he found to his satisfaction that everyone else had retired to their beds for the night, with curtains drawn.

Quietly, he moved to his desk, sat down smartly and gathered parchment and ink. Selecting his favourite quill, a feather from one of the finest owls back at home, he dipped it into the ink and, putting quill to parchment, began to write.

_Granger,_

_I will be brief. I need your help. Tonight, when I was at the Astronomy Tower, I stumbled upon Ginny Weasley, making out with that Hufflepuff, Justin Finch-Fletchley. This of course means that she is cheating on your friend Harry Potter._

_I would tell Harry myself, but I am not really his favourite person at the moment, and I thought you would be able to break it to him gently, and with tact. If you don't believe me, I challenge you to talk to Ginny about her relationship with Harry. I know you're intelligent enough to spot pure bullshit when you see it._

_Thank you._

Draco had wondered whether to sign his name or not, and in the end decided against it. It would lead to awkward questions like why he wasn't taking advantage of this knowledge he held over Harry. No, it was best if Granger just believed the letter was from a completely anonymous source.

He rolled up the parchment neatly, sealing it with a tap of his wand. He turned his attention to his bedside table, and more specifically, the magical alarm clock that sat on it. He changed the alarm time to 7:00am, then after changing into his favourite black silk pyjamas, got into bed and put out the light.

HPDM

It was a good two hours or so after dinner had ended before Harry returned to the common room. He found his friends in their usual positions, and moved to join them.

Hermione glanced up from her Anicent Runes translation to see Harry approaching them. She frowned, as Ron noticed Harry's presence as well.

"Harry, mate? Blimey, what are you doing here? I thought you were in bed." Ron asked, confused.

Harry winced. It didn't currently feel like he had any insides at all, except for his heart, which was beating rather painfully. He had put a glamour on himself before entering the common room, to hide his tired, red-rimmed eyes, and to dry his tear streaked face. All of him was screaming for sleep, begging him to just go and sleep and not have to think about this anymore, not have to feel all of this anymore.

"Sorry." Harry replied, taking care to avoid their eyes as he looked around at everyone else. "I remembered on the way here I had homework I urgently needed to do, I'd forgotten about it, so I've been in the library all this time."

The others chuckled in sympathy – everyone in Hogwarts had done that before. Hermione's narrowed brown eyes lessened slightly. It was true, he had been skimping a bit on homework lately. Perhaps he was telling the truth. She was willing to let it go.

"Well anyway, I'm definitely going to bed now guys, so goodnight." Harry said dully.

"Night, Harry." Everyone chorused, and relieved that Hermione hadn't even questioned his whopping big lie, Harry turned and headed for the stairs to the dorm rooms.

Every step he went up, he willed himself to keep going, keep going, just a few more, just a bit more, until he finally reached the dorm and slipped inside.

Heading straight for the bathroom joining with the room, he went to the sink and removed the glamour.

His eyes were immediately surrounded by red, and his face was suddenly covered with trails from where tears had slid slowly down. Harry studied himself tiredly in the mirror. His eyes looked dull, lifeless, and empty. He recalled his voice, when he had spoken to his friends. It reminded him of Barty Crouch Jr back in fourth year, under the influence of Veritaserum. The flat, dull tones the impostor had used back then was almost identical to his voice now.

He changed quickly, went to his bed and curled up. _'Blank white wall.' _He thought desperately. He repeated the mantra again and again; vaguely realising it would probably take a lot more than his old trick to help him forget.

Forget _everything._

HPDM

_Thursday, October 19th_

'_BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP'. _Declared Draco's alarm clock proudly.

Draco awoke with a start, blearily turning his head in the direction of the shrill noise. With a hiss, he seized his wand and magicked it silent, then paused to see if any of his roommates, especially Blaise, had been roused.

He thought he heard a few vague mumblings and growls along the lines of, 'Fucking alarm clocks…' but other than that; there were no real disturbances.

Pleased, Draco slid his legs out from under him and swung them over the side of the bed, rubbing his eyes. Time to get up and send a little love letter to Granger.

Vaguely amused and horrified at the thought, he stood and moved to the bathroom, where he proceeded to break all records by having the shortest shower in the history of his existence. Not even bothering to pause to style his hair, he dressed quickly in a pair of dark grey jeans and a green shirt.

Finally, Draco seized the sealed letter from his desk, grabbed his schoolbag and left.

10 minutes later, he had made his way up to the Owlery, and was pleased to see most of the owls had returned from their nights' hunting. He scanned the rows and rows of bright eyes, finally selecting one of the finer looking of the school barn owls. Walking over, Draco began to secure the sealed parchment to the leg of the creature.

"This is going to Hermione Granger, of Gryffindor. I need this delivered to her in her dorm, now, before breakfast. Got that?"

The owl hooted twice, which Draco took to mean he understood.

He carried it carefully over to the window on his arm, and held it out. The owl took off, sailing up and to the right and out of sight.

HPDM

Hermione stepped out of the bathroom, clean and refreshed from her shower. After a glance at Parvati's alarm clock, she learned it was a few minutes past 7 in the morning. Hermione gave a satisfied little sigh. Today was going to be a good day. She had finished the bathing process before Lavender and Parvati, resulting in ample time to get dressed and ready for the day.

Lavender's alarm clock went off, and by the time Hermione had returned to her bed and began to select clothing, Lavender had gotten up and had furtively sneaked into the bathroom, shutting the door. Hermione smirked to herself when she heard Parvati's very soft snore. It would be a long time before Parvati was able to use the bathroom. She was going to be late again.

Hermione selected jeans and a deep pink long sleeved shirt to wear, and began the process of fastening her robes and putting on her shoes. Finishing up with a sigh, she checked the mirror on her bedside table, critically examining her hair. It was less bushy these days, more wavy, but that didn't change the fact that she was still not with Ron. There were loads of girls way more attractive than her in the school, and it seemed sometimes that no matter what she did, he would never see her as more than a friend.

Hermione put the mirror down a little more firmly than she had originally intended, as she heard a soft crack. The glass had broken. Picking up her wand, she cast a lazy '_Reparo'_, and moved to the window. It was cloudy, and cold outside. They were in mid-autumn, but winter was already begun to spread across the grounds. She paused for a moment, just admiring the view of the lake and treetops rippling and swaying in the slight breeze.

Looking to the left, she spotted a barn owl flying towards the tower. She watched it in mild interest, not really thinking much of it, until she realised it was heading specifically for the very window she was watching it from.

Hermione stepped back as the owl fluttered onto the ledge, and held out its leg towards her.

Puzzled and curious, she detached the parchment from the owl's leg, upon which it promptly took off again, back out through the window. With a tap from her wand, she opened it, and began to read.

Parvati got up slowly, bleary eyed, and upon hearing the sound of water running in the bathroom and seeing the door closed, was suddenly wide awake. She let out a shriek of frustration, and proceeded to begin hammering on the door, yelling at her best friend.

"Open up, Lavender! I swear if you don't open the door right now…"

Hermione finished reading.

"Oh my God…" she breathed. "What a bitch."

Parvati glanced over her shoulder and nodded. "I know, she is, huh?"

She turned back to the task of banging down the door, leaving Hermione on the other side of the room, parchment clutched in hand, eyes bright, and breathing shallow.

"Yeah." Hermione said quietly. "She is."

_TBC_

**AN: There's chapter 10. Hope you liked it.**

**People always write Ginny as being either sweet, naïve, or just one of Harry's good friends. I wanted to try something different, where she's an attention-seeking bitch lol to put it nicely.**

**Thanks for reading, please review, and I'll see you next time!**

**bleedingxheart**


	11. The Art of Breaking Up

**AN: Hello! Well, I'm officially in Year 10 now, which means the School Certificate. Eurgh. But it also means the formal, and the trip to Europe! Yay!**

**Thanks to the people who reviewed, and enjoy Chapter 11!**

The Art of Breaking Up

_Thursday, October 19th_

Her first instinct was to go straight up to Ginny, and then slap her in a way that would reflect her infamous slap of Malfoy in third year. Then, perhaps she would yell and scream and maybe do some more bitch slapping.

But no. That was not the way Hermione Granger worked. The way Hermione worked was through the use of pure logic, approaching everything with calm, ultra-focused detachment.

As much as her heart told her to go straight to Ginny and have at her, her brain told her to go through the process properly.

Which she did, as she gathered up her bag, watching Parvati and Lavender bicker.

Someone had seen Ginny cheating on Harry. Whoever it was knew the workings of their little trio well, to have informed her instead of Harry. They would've known she'd be the one who could break it to him gently.

The question was, was it actually the truth, or just a hoax to destroy the relationships within Gryffindor Tower? Hermione wasn't sure. Perhaps it would be the best thing if she figured out if the anonymous sender was telling the truth first.

And so, Hermione hurried down the stairs from the girls dormitory to the common room, and sat down neatly on the edge of a lounge close to the stairs, determined to wait for Ginny.

Within 5 minutes the familiar head of red hair had emerged from the staircase. Ginny almost walked past her, but was stopped by Hermione reaching out and grabbing her arm.

"Hey Ginny." Hermione said with a smile that didn't reach her eyes.

Ginny smiled at the sight of Hermione. "Hey, Hermione." she said. "How are you?"

Hermione was still smiling when she replied, "I'm fine thanks, Ginny. Shall we get to breakfast?"

Ginny nodded, and the two began to make their way to the Common Room portrait.

Hermione battled with herself, trying to find the words to begin with. Finally deciding honesty would be the best policy here, she said, "So, Ginny, how are you and Harry these days? I swear I heard Euan Abercrombie saying something to his friends about Ginny Weasley and Harry Potter being on the rocks." Hermione winced – did she honestly have all the subtlety of a hammer whacking someone on the head?

Ginny didn't even bat an eye. "Oh yeah. You heard that, huh? Well, just between you and me, Hermione, I have to say, I don't know what the deal is with him. He doesn't seem to be as caring as he used to be these days. I can't help but wonder if he and I shouldn't, you know, just go back to being friends."

Hermione considered. "Well, I'm sorry to hear that, Ginny. You and Harry are so great together."

"Yeah, I know." Ginny sighed dramatically. "It's a shame."

"So, Ginny. What do you think about Justin Finch Fletchley?"

"Justin Finch Fletchley? That Hufflepuff in your year? Why would I think anything about Justin Finch Fletchley?" Ginny laughed nervously, tossing her hair. "Why would you mention that?"

Hermione looked vaguely pleased. "No reason. Don't worry about it."

They continued on in silence until they passed the girls' toilets, at which stage Hermione excused herself, seamlessly lying about her need to use the toilets in order to get away. Once away from the company of the redhead, Hermione sealed herself into a cubicle and sat down on the closed lid, head buried in hands.

All right, from the exchange she had just had with the youngest of the Weasley children, Hermione gathered that Ginny really had cheated on Harry. Ginny's guilty conscience had gotten the better of her then, Hermione suspected, and she couldn't cover the paranoia that Hermione was asking about him.

Oh, her poor, poor Harry.

Hermione got to her feet, unlocked, and then flung open, the cubicle door.

She had a little mail to send.

HPDM

Harry and the male contingent of his friends arrived in the Common Room. Ron looked around, bewildered.

"Where's Hermione? And Ginny?" he asked in confusion.

"They might've already gone down to breakfast." Dean said, reasonably. "Speaking of which, let's get going, my stomach's rumbling."

The others chuckled good-naturedly as they headed for the portrait. Harry followed listlessly, before a thought occurred to him.

'_I haven't actually seen Ginny in a while.' _He thought. '_I wonder what's going on._'

With a shrug, knowing he couldn't really do anything more about it, Harry followed his friends from the common room, heading for the Great Hall 7 floors below.

HPDM

Hermione had rushed back up to the girls' dorm to write her letter.

_To the mystery sender,_

_First of all, I want to extend my most sincere thank you for letting me know straight away what was going on. I did what you suggested and talked to Ginny, and I know now you were telling the truth – she really is cheating on Harry._

_I intend to tell him this morning, at breakfast, so you most likely have or will see the results of that._

_Again, I thank you. You have my gratitude._

_Sincerely,_

_Hermione Granger_

Hermione read over once more what she had written. It said what she needed it to say. That was all that mattered.

Rolling up the parchment and sealing it securely, she began to tie it to the leg of the owl that had delivered the original letter. It had stayed in the room, a miracle she wasn't willing to question. She'd buy Lavender new food supplies to make up for those that had been consumed by the bird.

Finishing up, Hermione looked the owl straight in the eye. "I know you probably want sleep, but I have just one little thing I need you to do. See this? I need you to deliver it to whomever it was that sent the original letter this morning, right now. It's very important."

The owl looked tired, but it seemed to understand. Hermione carried it to the open window and released the bird, watching it spread its wings and swoop downwards.

Turning, Hermione sprinted for the door. She needed to get to breakfast – if she didn't tell Harry now, she wouldn't be able to stand it.

HPDM

Draco sipped at his coffee, feeling the hot liquid slide down his throat and into his stomach. Glancing around, he noted the presence of Weasley, Longbottom and all the crew at the Gryffindor table. His Harry, of course, was there. Draco took a moment to observe worriedly that his love was merely gazing blankly at the plate of food in front of him, with glazed eyes.

Moving on, he spotted – he ground his teeth together angrily – the _Weaselette, _who was eating toast and looking slightly smug and slightly anxious, at the same time. Hmm. Had Granger swung into action already? It was possible.

Bang. The oak doors to the Great Hall swung open, and Draco turned his head to see Granger herself walking into the room. Her face was calm, her stride and gaze purposeful. Here was a woman on a mission.

Draco idly sipped his coffee again, watching with interest as Granger headed for the Gryffindor table and sat down next to Harry. A screech overhead signalled the arrival of the morning post. Draco barely noticed – his mother had written to him last week, meaning he still had one more week before he could expect another letter.

Then quite suddenly, a very loud nearby screech summoned his attention, and he turned his head to see an owl flying directly towards him. It landed smoothly, and held out its leg.

Looking closer, Draco vaguely realised that this was the very owl he had used to send the letter to Granger. He untied the letter, opened it and began to read.

HPDM

"Good morning, Harry." Hermione's voice and smile were shaking slightly as she looked upon her best friend.

Harry merely gazed at his toast for a few moments before blinking and shaking his head, then turning to look at her.

"Oh...morning, 'Mione." He said quietly.

"Listen, Harry…" Hermione paused, not really knowing how to put this. She decided to settle for honesty. "I need to talk to you. About Ginny."

Harry nodded listlessly. "Yeah, OK. What about her?"

"I received…well, a tip off, for lack of a better word, which indicated that whomever had sent it had seen Ginny…um, well, to be blunt, cheating on you."

Harry blinked. "Go on."

"Right, well." Hermione was flustered. She hadn't known this would be so hard. "So I, obviously, had to check on that myself, and I talked to Ginny. While she didn't actually say straight out that she cheated on you, she did enough for me to get the gist that she did."

Harry blinked again. Hermione took that to mean she should keep talking.

"So I decided I would come here and let you know, that, that…oh, Harry." she reached over and hugged him tight. "I'm so sorry. Ginny's been cheating on you."

Harry nodded, once, against her shoulder. He even hugged back briefly. Pulling away, he pushed some of his dark hair from his eyes and regarded her seriously.

"Who gave you the tip off?" Harry asked.

"Oh…um, actually Harry, I'm not sure. It was via a letter, an anonymous letter."

"Can I see it?"

Hermione hurriedly retrieved the letter from her bag and handed it to Harry. He scanned it briefly, and then gave it back.

"Thanks for letting me know straight away, 'Mione." he said quietly. "I appreciate it. Now if you could excuse me, I need to speak with Ginny."

Hermione nodded quickly as he stood, then hesitated. "Harry?"

"Yeah?"

"Try to make the break up painful. Revenge is always sweet."

Hermione was pleased to note the quick, genuine grin that flashed over Harry's face before he headed towards Ginny's seat.

HPDM

Draco finished the letter, and looked over at the Gryffindor table, watching Granger and Harry converse. Granger pulled something out of her bag, handing it to Harry, which he read. Draco watched as he stood up and headed to the Weaselette's seat. Draco grinned. Granger was alright, for a muggle-born. He settled back to watch.

Over on the other side of the Hall, Harry tapped Ginny on the shoulder. She turned in a whoosh of soft red hair, which was followed by the scent of her perfume. Harry used to love it. Now, he found it slightly nauseating, and sickly sweet.

"Ginny, could I talk to you, please? In private?"

Ginny blinked her large brown eyes up at him, and smiled.

"Of course, Harry."

He turned on his heel and walked out of the Great Hall, with Ginny hurrying along beside him, leaving those that had witnessed the exchange behind to discuss this latest development.

Draco growled angrily to himself, watching them leave. He wouldn't get to see the fireworks.

…unless he followed the fireworks, wherever they would go.

He stood at once, gathering up his bag, and swept from the Great Hall, ignoring the gaze of Parkinson and Zabini, as he always did. Once safely outside the oak doors, he paused to consider - where would Harry go to do a break-up?

_An unused classroom, probably._ Draco answered himself, and set off at once for the first floor corridor.

He checked each door until he heard soft voices from within one of the rooms. Opening the door just a sliver, he leaned in to watch, and listen.

"What do you need to talk to me about, Harry?" Ginny purred sweetly.

Harry's green eyes narrowed. He clenched his fists, and when he spoke, his voice was a low growl, deep in the back of his throat.

"You know damn well what I'm here to talk to you about, Ginny."

Ginny blinked. He may know. He may not. Play dumb until you know for sure.

"I'm sorry Harry, but I really couldn't tell you why you dragged me here."

"You." Harry hissed, his eyes darkening rapidly with anger.

Ginny winced at the tone. Ah. He had found out.

"How could you, how could you cheat on me? When you fucking well know what I've been through, you fucking well know how hard life has been for me lately? You know more than anyone else, because I trusted you, because you were my friend, and my girlfriend. You said you wouldn't hurt me. You said you wouldn't put me through pain again."

His voice had changed from an angry hiss to a dejected, pained tone. Ginny thought she felt a pang of regret inside her, but quickly dismissed it.

"Well, I don't know how long this has been going on, Ginny, and quite frankly I don't want to know. I don't feel as if I even know who you are anymore. You're a stranger to me. I used to feel warmth, and love, as far as you were concerned. Now it's just anger and pain, like everything else. Thanks a lot, Ginny. Really. I appreciate it. We're over, and I honestly couldn't care less if I don't see you again."

Harry glared at her once more, before turning on his heel and stalking to the door.

Draco thought he was going to explode with the mixture of emotions that were swirling through him. Hatred. Anger. Sympathy. Pain.

His brain registered that Harry was storming towards the very door he was currently standing behind, and consequently got the hell out of the way, just in time for it to swing open. Harry stalked out and swept off down the hall. Draco kept himself pressed to the wall, half-hidden by the half open door. Moments later, Ginny followed. Draco watched her check her hair and re-apply her lip gloss before heading off down the corridor, tracing the footsteps of her now ex-boyfriend.

Draco breathed deeply, in, out, in, out. As long as he kept breathing, it would be OK.

It took a few moments, but he regained his composure, and followed the path that Harry and Ginny had taken, back to the remainder of breakfast.

Draco hoped his coffee wouldn't be cold by now.

**AN: w00p! He dumped her ass! Progress, people. Progress.**

**On another note, it's my 15th birthday today, and it would be great if people reviewed on my birthday…hint hint.**

**Thanks for reading, and I'll see you next time!**

**bleedingxheart**


	12. Rumours

**AN: Thanks to everyone for the birthday reviews! Hope you enjoy Chapter 12!**

Rumours

_Thursday, October 19th_

Ginny hurried through the corridors, thinking frantically. Okay, so maybe that had been a tad unexpected. She'd had a suspicion that Harry _might've _find out by the next day, but being dumped so quickly?

That had definitely come out of left field.

'_It's alright.'_ she soothed herself. _'People don't know what has happened. I just need to spread my side of things first.'_

With that thought in mind, she picked up speed, determined to reach the Great Hall before her new ex.

HPDM

She needn't have worried. Harry didn't have any intentions of going near the Great Hall. Not yet, anyway.

He was outside instead, sitting on the stone steps leading to the great doors of the castle. It was cold, for a morning, but he didn't really care. Let him catch a cold.

He gazed out over the lake, and sighed.

Harry was sick of feeling down. He was sick of feeling empty, and sad. Sick of letting stuff affect him. Enough was enough.

He would study, and get through school, and ignore everyone who wasn't his friends. Everyone else could go to hell, as far as he was concerned. Especially Ginny.

Harry shivered slightly in the crisp air, before standing and turning to head back inside.

Especially Malfoy, as well.

HPDM

Draco allowed himself to lean his head on his hands, just for a moment. Snape stood at the front, lecturing them about some potion or other. Some of the students were listening, some weren't. It was the same as all the other Potions classes that had existed before.

Goyle sat beside him, staring gormlessly at their Professor. Nothing different about that.

If Draco turned around, he knew he would find Blaise and Crabbe, where they always sat.

Draco knew that Harry was precisely 3 desks behind him, and to the right. He was sitting next to Weasley, as usual.

But something was different. He just wasn't sure what it was. Having returned to the Great Hall, with hopes of salvaging what was left of his coffee, Draco had noted that the Weaselette had also returned, and was talking to quite a few Gryffindors, looking very serious.

And now, Draco could feel, rather than hear, the murmurs sweeping the classroom. Something had happened. Something important.

Draco cursed everyone for knowing something he didn't.

HPDM

The bell rang loudly for lunch, and students in the Charms classroom began to immediately swarm for the doors, eager for sustenance. Harry moved with them, on autopilot more than anything.

Ron had noticed during class something was different about Harry. He'd asked Hermione, who'd promptly told him to wait for Harry – he would know when Harry was ready to tell him.

Harry, of course, knew this had happened. He hadn't been best friends with them both for so long for nothing – he had an inkling how their minds worked. So with a resigned sigh, he stopped them both as they finally escaped the almost-scrum at the Charms classroom door.

"I need to talk to you guys." Harry said.

They merely nodded, and waited for the crowd to disperse before looking at him expectantly.

"I broke up with Ginny this morning." Harry said.

Hermione nodded, a grim kind of pride and satisfaction swelling up inside her. Ron, on the other hand, looked stunned.

"You did? But why?" Ron asked.

"She cheated on me." Harry answered. Seeing Ron open his mouth to speak, he held up a hand. "No, don't say anything. Ask Hermione to explain if you think there was no proof. I just thought you, especially you Ron, should know what happened – she is your sister, after all."

Ron was silent. Harry knew he was torn between family loyalty and loyalty to his best friend.

"If you can prove that," he said finally, "I will believe you. I won't completely shun her – she is my sister – but…I'll take your side."

Harry smiled, happiness stirring feebly somewhere under his ribs. It had been awhile since something had happened to make him feel happy.

"Thanks Ron. That means a lot." He said, smiling at both of them.

"Shall we get going?" Hermione said. "The others are probably wondering where we are."

"Good point." Ron said, rubbing his stomach. "I'm starving!"

Harry gave a weak chuckle as they headed for the Great Hall.

HPDM

They arrived in the Hall only to find it awash with whispers. They moved to the Gryffindor table, silently noting that many of the gazes of the students were aimed at them, most specifically, at Harry.

Seating himself, Harry glanced around and realised with a start that many of the gazes came from males – and they were heated with something akin to hatred.

"What's going on, Neville? Seamus? Dean?" Hermione murmured somewhat desperately to their friends.

"We don't know." Neville said, trying to ignore the pointed stares of their fellow students. "It went like this when you guys came in."

"Something has happened, though, Harry." Seamus chipped in.

"I could tell that, thanks Seamus." Harry retorted dryly.

They had barely begun eating before a shadow fell over Harry's plate. Looking up, he saw Michael Corner, Ginny's old boyfriend.

"I just wanted to tell you, Potter," and here Michael spat the last word, "that I thought better of you. I'm disappointed. Don't think I won't hurt you for what you did to Ginny."

Harry stared blankly at the furious boy. "What the hell are you talking about?" he questioned, staring confusedly at Michael as though concerned for his sanity.

With a significant look, Michael turned and stalked back to his seat. Many people all around the Hall were now nodding in approval at the exchange.

Harry turned startled eyes back to his friends. 'What just happened?' he asked, but they shrugged, as lost as he was.

HPDM

Draco had been watching since the trio had entered the Hall. He still hadn't figured out what had happened to have so many students, especially the younger boys, up in arms against Harry.

"Hello, Draco."

Draco closed his eyes briefly before turning his attention to the boy who was now sliding into place across from him: Blaise Zabini.

"Blaise." He acknowledged.

Blaise's dark eyes were shining. He grinned. "Did you see that exchange just then between Potter and Corner?"

Draco nodded tightly. "Yes."

Blaise laughed as he helped himself to some carrots. "That was fantastic. I knew the younger guys wouldn't be able to restrain themselves for long."

"Have I missed something?"

Blaise grinned again. "I take it by your blank look that you probably have. I don't know how – it's been all over school that Potter dumped Ginny Weasley because he was bored with her."

Draco stared.

Blaise stabbed at the carrots with his fork. "It's great – everyone who had the hots for her hates him now. And there were a surprising amount of people who did."

Draco was still staring.

Blaise ate the carrots, chewing with relish. "Apparently, she's been trying to stop herself from crying all through the morning classes – but everyone could tell she was upset. Someone asked her what happened, I guess, and she told them, and now everyone knows Potter's a heartless bastard."

It was too much. Draco got to his feet abruptly.

"Right." He said. "Thanks for that, Blaise."

He collected his bag, and headed for the doors, away from the room filled with stupid, stupid people.

HPDM

"She's spread a rumour about you two, Harry." Hermione reasoned, as the trio left those in the Hall behind. "One that puts you in a good light and her in a bad one. That's the only thing I can think of that could justify how the students are acting."

Harry wasn't really listening. That much had been obvious to him anyway.

"When I get hold of Ginny…" Ron muttered, and suddenly Harry found he didn't want to deal with this.

"Guys." He said, stopping them at the staircase. He paused to observe the anger burning in his friends' eyes.

"I'm touched, really I am, that you care. But I don't. I know the truth behind the break-up, and whatever the other students believe is something they're stupid enough to believe anyway. Reaction from me is exactly what Ginny wants, so I'm not going to give it to her."

Hermione and Ron considered this.

"Well…that's your decision, so we'll support it. But just let me know if you want revenge." Hermione said with a quick grin.

Harry smiled. "OK, Mione."

"Yeah, I agree." Ron added. "But…um, can someone explain to me the details of what did happen to merit the break-up?"

Harry smiled as Hermione rolled her eyes and began the explanation as they resumed their route to the next class.

HPDM

Draco spent the rest of the day restraining himself whenever he heard anyone speak ill of Harry – which admittedly was alarmingly often. It seemed a lot of the students had a soft spot for Ginny, either as a crush or a friend.

He did have enough time in between his self-restraint to note that Harry was now no longer looking at him, either absently or in hatred – in fact, he got the distinct impression that Harry was determinedly not looking at anyone except his friends and Professors.

Draco didn't understand why – any normal person would've been affected by the mutterings of their classmates when they were at that extent. Perhaps Harry was just trying to focus on what was important.

It was disheartening to note also that _'things that were important'_ did not seem to include Draco where Harry was concerned.

HPDM

Harry and his friends sat around their usual table in Gryffindor Tower. Harry was valiantly trying to maintain a normal conversation with Neville as the people who walked past his chair hissed and glared into the back of his head.

"So, do you like her?" Harry asked.

Neville paused, considering. "Maybe. I'm not really sure. I mean, everyone thinks she's so weird, but…she's always been nice to me. And…" At this point, he ducked his head, blushing, before murmuring, '…she's really pretty."

Everyone laughed as Neville straightened himself up again.

"Neville loves Luna…" teased Dean from his spot in Seamus's lap.

"Shut up! I do not!" Neville cried, outraged, throwing a cushion at Dean, who caught it easily.

"Thanks Neville. I can use this to cushion my head from Seamus's elbow."

"And what, pray tell, is wrong with my elbow?" Seamus questioned.

"It's bony, of course." Dean retorted with a cheeky grin.

"Oh, you're going to pay for that." Seamus said, and began tickling Dean.

Harry laughed as he watched his friends bicker and play-fight. To think, he had let himself forget what it was like to just be around his friends like this.

He'd almost let himself get completely distracted by the thought of grey eyes, and blonde hair, and…

Harry shook himself determinedly. No. He would not go down that road again.

He had to admit though, even as the beginnings of what promised to be a marvellous cushion war began around him, the idea of grey eyes and blonde hair was a little too appealing for comfort.

_TBC_

**AN: Yep, it's short. Sorry about that.**

**Thanks for reading, and please review!**

**bleedingxheart**


	13. Snape's Project

**AN: Erm…so, I haven't updated in like, 7 months. Sorry about that. I've had a lot of things to do and think about this year, like exams and the school trip to Europe and stuff. So yeah. Sorry about that. Here's chapter 13.**

Snape's Project

_Thursday, October 26th_

It was breakfast time at the Great Hall. A low murmur rose from the four tables as the students ate, chatted and did last minute catching up on homework and assignments.

Harry was sitting between Hermione and Neville, and facing them was Ron, Seamus and Dean. Harry selected a piece of bacon from a nearby plate as he listened to Seamus and Dean's playful and surprisingly sexual banter. Well, for that time of morning anyway.

It had been a week since the rumour about the technicalities of the ending of Harry and Ginny's relationship had spread. Looking around now, Harry was pleased to see the number of glares sent his way had halved themselves again today. Soon, there would be no-one glaring at him.

The rumour, which had spread like wildfire around the school, was slowly but surely being forgotten. Only those who could be considered as infatuated, bordering on psychopath-like obsessed, with Ginny still held venom against Harry. Everyone else had seen Harry's quiet denials and genuine bewilderment and knew they had been misinformed.

Except for the Slytherins, of course. They still took great delight in encouraging the anti-Potter vibes and riling Harry up whenever they could, but the act was getting older.

What Harry couldn't believe was that no real harm, socially at least, seemed to have befallen Ginny over this incident. At this thought, Harry glanced down the table and quickly spotted his ex and her headful of bright red hair. She was surrounded by adoring boys, all flirting and laughing with her.

Most of the boys who still loved Ginny had adapted a kind of neutral feeling towards Harry. They didn't hate him, but they didn't specifically like him either – most of their attention was focused on Ginny.

This was perplexing, and not in the least bit irritating. However, as no-one seemed to really be trying to bother Harry (again, with the exception of the Slytherins), he had decided to let the matter drop and get on with his life. After some convincing, his friends had reluctantly accepted this decision. Although Harry hadn't directly spoken to Ginny since their break-up conversation, he had passed her a few times in the corridors, whereupon he would nod his head in polite acknowledgement, which seemed to be the right approach to take to the situation in the other students' eyes.

And so Harry was sitting with his friends, laughing and talking cheerfully like everyone else.

Across the hall, silver eyes glittered towards the Gryffindor table. Draco absently sipped his orange juice as he watched Harry and his friends. Neville turned and spoke with Harry. Harry laughed. Draco itched with an inner longing to be the one making Harry laugh.

The last week had been hard on Draco. He had been pleased to see the slow turn of favour towards Harry occur, and the consequent light that had slowly returned to Harry's beautiful eyes. He had also been pleased to see Harry smiling and laughing as much as he always used to…before all the craziness had occurred.

But, this newly-found happiness of Harry's had come with a price. Draco had been feeling increasingly hopeless and miserable. While there was once a time where Harry had been having wet dreams over Draco (and then accusing Draco of causing them), things seemed to have changed completely.

Harry was well and truly ignoring him. Draco knew that he couldn't actually know exactly what Harry's feelings towards him were, but the last time he checked, Harry had been distraught at catching Blaise kissing Draco. Not to mention Harry was now single. Logically, it all should've pointed to an immediate and conclusive happy ending for both of them.

But no.

Draco was sick of being ignored now he knew what could be between he and Harry. He was sick of pining in his bed every night for Harry. He was sick of dreaming about a Harry who loved him, and then an entire day passing with a Harry who was indifferent to him.

Dammit, he was a Malfoy. Malfoys command respect and attention. Draco suspected the feelings for him were still in Harry somewhere. He just had no idea how to go about retrieving them, short of confessing how he felt.

Which he was definitely not about to do.

HPDM

The first class of the day was Potions. The Slytherins and the Gryffindors both lined up outside the classroom, waiting to be let in by their Potions master. Draco stood with Blaise.

One of the few benefits of the past week was Blaise had, in a drunken stupor, ended up in Theodore Nott's bed one night and, not knowing better, slept with him. In the aftermath of this, Nott and Blaise had got to talking and Blaise had found what he had wanted - a guy to serve the Dark Lord with, and bed with, at the same time.

Blaise had finally given up his quest to get into Draco's pants. It was a miracle Draco wasn't willing to question.

The door to the Potions classroom opened, and Snape stood at the threshold, black eyes glittering at his class.

"Enter." he stated coldly, and stepped back as the students filed in past him silently.

Once the students had taken their places – Gryffindors on the right hand side of the classroom, Slytherins on the left – Snape shut the door and swept over to his desk.

"You have, so far this year, been doing work on relatively simple potions." Snape said, gaze sweeping over the class. "However, it is time for you all to begin your major project of the term. As you should recall, we do one of these every year."

He paused, and then continued, "I will take this moment to remind you all that the majority of you have failed to satisfactorily complete your respective term projects for several years now. By this, I mean you have not managed to achieve a single Outstanding on any project you have attempted."

"Therefore, this led me to investigate a possible cause. My conclusion is either the majority of you are complete imbeciles and I am wasting my time trying to teach you, or you have been consistently working with your friends for these projects, which means you spend too much time talking and not enough working."

There was an outbreak of annoyed mutterings at this, which Snape immediately silenced with a Look.

"So I have decided this project will be completed with a partner that I have assigned you. And yes, this means Slytherins will work with Gryffindors and vice versa, so get used to it."

More muttering, which was quelled by yet another Look.

Snape seated himself behind his desk and rummaged in a drawer before retrieving a sheet of parchment.

"I will now read the pairings. Work out whom will sit where yourselves."

He cleared his throat, and began.

"Granger, Parkinson."

"Weasley, Zabini."

"Thomas, Goyle."

"Finnegan, Crabbe."

"Longbottom, Nott."

"Brown, Greengrass."

"Patil, Bulstrode."

"Potter, Malfoy."

He set the parchment down and looked up to see a stalemate occurring between the two sides of students.

"Move. NOW." Snape said in his most dangerous voice.

There was a flurry of movement as some of the Gryffindors and some of the more Snape-fearing Slytherins hurriedly gathered their things and moved.

Harry ended up at the front desk, next to Malfoy, as his partnering dictated. He wasn't very happy with the arrangement – he had been doing marvellously this week in avoiding Malfoy – but to disobey a direct order from Severus Snape was equal to suicide.

Harry nodded in cool acknowledgement towards Malfoy, who looked momentarily surprised before nodding back. They both turned to face the front as Snape stood and moved to the front of his desk.

"Now, get out your parchment and quills and write this down because I'm only telling you this once." There was another flurry of movement as parchment, quills and inkpots appeared on the desks, and Snape began to give instructions.

HPDM

Later on that day, as the bell sounded for a between-classes break, Harry and his friends were leaving their Transfiguration classroom and heading for their favourite courtyard.

Dean and Seamus led the way, chatting contentedly. Neville and Ron followed them, discussing the work they had just done in class. Hermione and Harry brought up the rear, as Harry listened to Hermione's description of what her Potions lesson was like.

"So I asked her when would be a good time for her to meet up tomorrow and get a head start on the project, and you know what she said?"

"What?"

"She said, 'Bite me.' Can you believe that girl?" Hermione asked exasperatedly, pushing hair from her face. "I don't know what on earth Snape thinks he's doing with those pairings. I suspect I'll end up having to do all the work myself and have to give Pansy credit for work she didn't even do, as usual."

Harry made a sympathetic noise as they arrived at the courtyard and joined the circle the other four had formed.

"So, what does everyone reckon about Snape's project this year?" Ron questioned.

"The actual tasks themselves aren't that difficult." Dean commented, scratching his chin thoughtfully. "Though I guess it depends what topic you choose."

There was general agreement at this. Snape had informed them that the project comprised of a research and a practical part, the entire project totalling nearly a quarter of their marks for the year. He then listed a range of topics that they could choose from to complete the project on.

Harry hadn't actually discussed with Malfoy what topic they would choose. In fact, he had made sure that while Snape was lecturing them he ignored Malfoy as best he could, considering the distracting close proximity of the blonde.

Harry shook himself. '_I won't go through that again._' he promised himself silently, before turning back to his friends' conversation.

Seamus looked gloomy. "I can't believe that bloody bastard paired me with Crabbe, of all people! He's as thick as a pole, I'll never manage to get a good mark on the project."

"That's probably what his aim was all along." Neville observed. "All we can do is do our best, I guess. Although I suppose I can't really complain that much, coz Nott is fairly skilled at both aspects of Potions and is probably one of the more amicable of the Slytherins. If Slytherins are even capable of being amicable, anyway."

"I'm probably on the same side as both Seamus and Neville." Ron said. "Zabini is an absolute bastard, but he actually knows his stuff about Potions."

"What about you, Harry?" Neville asked.

Harry shrugged. "I haven't actually really thought about it. Malfoy's good at Potions, no doubt about that, and hopefully he'll want to do well enough to not be such a pain about it." he said carelessly.

Hermione observed Harry's actions, frowning slightly. Over the last week, something had changed with him. After the rumours had started, Hermione had tried her hardest to discuss Malfoy with him, but he kept rebutting her, with 'Not now, Hermione.'

And it was fair enough, he did have a lot to think about with the rumours and schoolwork, but Hermione was frustrated. As much as she loved seeing the 'old' Harry back instead of the more recent version that had been miserable and angry, she wanted to know about that crush he had on Malfoy, or more specifically if it was even there still. But Harry had gone straight back to the way he used to be whenever the subject of Malfoy came up, which was coolly indifferent.

Harry glanced at her and very quickly looked away upon seeing her scrutinizing gaze.

Hermione frowned again. _'I will find out eventually._' she vowed to herself as the bell rang to signal the end of the break.

HPDM

Draco sat quietly, twirling his quill over and over again in his hands as Professor Binns droned on about some great wizard who led some great uprising. Draco wasn't really sure. He wasn't listening.

He reflected, once more, about that magical and yet terrifying moment where he had met Harry's eyes in Potions class. Draco honestly believed nothing was scarier then looking the one you loved in the face and meeting their gaze.

He was, however, very happy about the Potions project. Besides being one of the few students who had ever managed an Outstanding on a term project, he was to work with Harry. His godfather may be creepy and a little bit odd, but Draco could honestly have kissed Snape for pairing the two together. He could see this project was an opportunity to get closer to Harry and gain his trust.

Of course, first they would have to actually decide on a topic for the project. They hadn't discussed it in class, mainly because Harry had spent the entire time determinedly looking at Snape, and Draco had been wary of bringing it up if he was going to be hexed for speaking.

Draco saw the girl in front of him slowly slump forwards, her head hitting the desk with a soft thump, which was followed by the sound of soft snores.

Draco sighed and laid his head on his desk as well. Might as well join in and go to his dreams. It wasn't like he was going to learn anything this lesson.

HPDM

That night in the Gryffindor common room, Harry and his friends were back at their usual table doing their usual activities. Glancing around, Harry noted that the number of venomous glares sent his way had lessened yet again. Ginny was over on the other side of the room, sitting with some year-mates and a group of male admires, laughing and flirting, in her element.

Harry watched her for a moment. All his once deep and serious feelings for her had disappeared completely. All he felt for her now was a vague dislike and pity. Pity, because what he had always seen before as a quirky thing about her, he saw now was an insatiable need for attention, at all times, which struck him as just plain pathetic.

Turning back to his own table, he frowned at the Transfiguration questions he was trying to complete. It was hopeless. He couldn't bloody concentrate.

He hadn't figured out yet what his feelings were about this Potions project. It had been bugging him all day, despite what he had told his friends during the break. He wasn't sure whether to be happy that he was practically guaranteed a good mark, or unhappy because it would mean a lot of time having to be spent with Malfoy.

Over the last week his feelings for Malfoy hadn't changed very much but he had gotten a lot better at controlling and, when the time called for it, ignoring them. Controlling them whenever Malfoy would casually run a hand through his hair whilst concentrating in class. Ignoring them whenever his friends mentioned Malfoy. Doing everything in his power to avoid Hermione and her knowing eyes. He suspected she knew perfectly well about his feelings for the Slytherin, not to mention his attempts to ignore them.

The most frustrating thing of all was whenever he had been about to fall asleep at night, he managed to convince himself that he didn't like Malfoy. And then breakfast the next morning would arrive and there he would be, peacefully eating at the Gryffindor table, and Malfoy would enter the Great Hall and Harry would actually feel his heart skip a beat, for just a moment. And there would be the unquestionable proof that yes, he did in fact like Malfoy.

Harry realised the other boys were all yawning, gathering their things and hoisting their bags onto their shoulders. Ron gestured to Harry. "Are you coming, mate?"

Harry noticed Hermione suddenly glanced up from her work, a hopeful expression on her face. Eager to not be left with She Who Knows and figuring he could finish the questions at breakfast, Harry quickly answered, "Yeah Ron, just give me a moment," and began hurriedly packing his things into his bag.

"Night Hermione!" The others chorused as they began making their way to the stairs.

"Bye 'Mione." Harry said with a slight trace of guilt as Hermione looked at him, disappointed, before replying, "Good night, Harry."

Harry followed his friends up the stairs, mentally preparing himself for his pre-sleep denial and then morning reminder of exactly what it was Hermione knew he felt.

_TBC_

**AN: This chapter has been 7 months in the making. So, I hope you enjoyed it, and I promise I will not let that happen again.**

**Thanks so much for reading, and please review!**

**bleedingxheart**


	14. The Verfortue Potion

**AN: Thanks to the people who reviewed. Enjoy Chapter 14!**

The Verfortue Potion

_Friday, October 27th_

"Pass the bacon, would ya, Seamus?"

Ron's voice was distinctive above the babble as the plate, loaded with piles of crispy bacon, was obediently passed along the table to rest in front of Ron. The smile Ron gave to said bacon could only be described as predatory as he leaned forward, fork poised.

Beside him, Harry was selecting a pancake from a stack at least a ruler's length in height. Having accomplished this, he absent-mindedly tossed his head to flick his fringe out of his eyes before he began to eat.

It was this seemingly innocent motion that gained him his morning view of Malfoy entering the Great Hall for breakfast, and of course, the obligatory skip in his heart beat due to it.

There wasn't really a way one could go about describing exactly what it was about Malfoy during these moments that made his presence so…commanding. Harry's best guess was that there was just something about the way his cool grey eyes swept the hall with an indifferent arrogance. Or perhaps it was the self-assured way he carried himself as he strode calmly to the Slytherin table. Or perhaps it was even the simple power he had, without even trying, over the members of his house. This much was evident in the pair of third-year Slytherin girls who promptly got up and moved to ensure Malfoy got a good seat. Anyone else might not have noticed, hell, odds were no one else in the other houses cared, but Harry did. Harry noticed the polite nod of acknowledgement and vague gratitude he gave to the girls, and the way they went off down the other end to find new seats, whispering to each other with looks of awe on their faces that didn't go unnoticed by Harry either.

The thing was that Malfoy entering the Great Hall didn't cause a reaction with anyone else the way it did with Harry. No one else seemed to even notice he was arrived. They all carried on with their various discussions, and Harry was left to hear his sped-up heart, feel his flushed face and have no other choice than to see Malfoy when he was right there in front of him.

He was going to have to talk to Malfoy about their topic for the Potions project, he knew. Luckily, they had Potions that day, which meant that luckily, he wouldn't have to track down Malfoy outside of class.

Luckily.

HPDM

"I see that you are all truly the imbeciles I always suspected you were." Snape sneered at them from behind his desk, long fingers twitching in the grip on his chair as though longing to strangle them all. "Need I remind you that as of yesterday you have started your term project, and as such, are expected to be, I don't know, _sitting with your project partner, perhaps_?" he hissed venomously.

Everyone jumped slightly in their seats in surprise and embarrassment.

"My God." Snape shook his head exasperatedly. "Help us all if this is the next generation of wizards. Move, you fools. _Hurry up_."

The sound of stools scraping filled the air as students hurried to obey this wish. Harry once again ended up at Malfoy's table down the front, and once again nodded in cool acknowledgement in Malfoy's direction.

"Now." Snape began once everyone was seated and settled. "Today's lesson, and every lesson hereafter until the end of term, will be dedicated to your projects. I trust you have all settled on a topic?"

A few people shifted guiltily, and someone coughed.

Snape's eyes narrowed. "Just…get to work." He spat disgustedly, before drawing his seat out slowly and sitting down, sinking his head into his hands despairingly.

There was a short, uncomfortable silence, which was then broken by an outbreak of soft and angry voices as Gryffindors and Slytherins all over the room began to sneer at/argue with/insult each other.

The only exclusion from this typical reaction between students of those two houses when put together came from the front table. Harry and Draco regarded each other warily.

Draco decided to break the silence first. "Do you have your notes from yesterday here?" he questioned, cautiously.

Harry eyed him for a moment. "Yes. They're in my bag."

Silence. Hellishly awkward silence.

"I'll just get them out." Harry added, and ducked his head to retrieve the necessary sheets of parchment, ink and quill from his bag beneath the table.

Draco took advantage of this action to look at the stretch of smooth, tanned skin at the back of Harry's neck it revealed. He sucked in a breath as Harry straightened and dumped the implements onto the table.

"Well, before we can start anything, we'll need to choose our topic." Draco commented as calmly as he could. He leant over to straighten the parchment on which Harry had written the list Snape gave to them the day before. It was Harry's turn to suck in a breath as suddenly a combination of peach and…lilies, maybe, invaded his nose.

"Well, let's see what we've got here." Draco murmured, running a pale finger down Harry's messily scribbled handwriting. "'Wolfsbane Potion…research component…two scrolls on the history of the potion, the effects and the pros and cons of its use…'" Draco paused, and squinted. "What the hell is _that _meant to say, Potter?"

"Hm? Wha? Oh…er…" Harry snapped out of his Draco-induced trance and obligingly leaned in to study his own writing.

"Um…it says, 'Practical component: Concoct a successful Wolfsbane potion.'"

Draco raised an eyebrow, sceptical. "Does it, now? It's amazing you can read your writing, Potter, even with your glasses, because I certainly can't."

Harry immediately jerked away from him, eyes flashing indignantly. Draco winced inwardly – he just always had to open his big mouth – but Harry had already turned back to the parchment.

"I think," Harry said, and when he spoke his voice was cool, 'that particular one is a bit difficult to do."

Draco hastened to agree. "Yes, you're right on that one, Potter." he said, mentally kicking himself with a reminder that he was meant to be trying to accomplish civil conversation with Harry.

They went through the list, Draco reading each section aloud but not daring to question Harry's handwriting again. The project topics ranged from invisibility potions (which had a research component minimum of 4 scrolls, something that effectively caused the boys to skip to the next topic) to Polyjuice Potion ("Far too easy." Draco commented, somewhat disappointing Harry as that was probably the one potion he knew something about.)

After they had gone over and dismissed a total of 15 possible topics, they reached the very bottom of the list.

"Alright, the Verfortue Potion. Second to last on the list." Draco reminded Harry, who nodded as Draco re-located the information at the bottom of the parchment.

"The Verfortue Potion. Research component involves 2 scrolls of information…history, the theory behind how it works, and reasons why it's used, plus a comparison to Veritaserum. The practical component is to concoct it successfully."

Harry nodded again, having momentarily forgotten to try and act hostile towards Malfoy in the wake of choosing a topic. "It doesn't sound that bad..." He said cautiously. "What is it, though?"

Draco frowned speculatively. "I may have seen its name mentioned in one or two of those Potions texts Severus gave me…"

Draco distractedly re-read the information before becoming aware that Harry was very still beside him. Reluctantly, he glanced up to see Harry looking at him with a mixture of surprise, amusement and incredulity on his face.

"Snape gives you extra Potions readings?" Harry questioned.

Draco shrugged. "Yeah." he said. "A birthday present from him. He is my godfather, after all."

Gone was the amusement and surprise, pure incredulity now graced Harry's features as he stared open-mouthed at Draco.

"Snape's your GODFATHER?"

Draco noted that Harry's raised voice had attracted the attention of Snape himself, who had glanced up from what he was doing to glare in Harry's general direction. Draco hurriedly turned back to Harry.

"Yes, he is. He and my parents were close friends when they were here, so when I was born my parents named him my godfather." Draco said.

Harry merely gaped at him. "Well, that's fair enough I guess, but…you actually do Potions outside of class that isn't homework?"

"Yes. It happens to be my favourite subject, and when there's something you like doing, you usually want to do it as much as you can."

Harry was silent. "Oh."

Draco tried not to smile. That, he believed, was what normal people called civilized conversation, and he had just partook in it with his supposed 'arch rival.'

He flicked his fringe out of his eye. "So, do you want to do the Verfortue potion?"

Harry seemed to come back to reality, as he blinked several times before running a hand absently through his hair. "Yeah, I guess." he conceded.

Draco felt his stomach dip pleasantly from Harry's seemingly innocent actions. Dammit, but this boy could stir him up like no one else.

"Alright." Draco said. He checked his watch (made of pure silver and probably worth the Weasleys' entire house, thank you very much) and saw they only had 5 minutes left to the end of the period. It seemed like the time had absolutely flown by, but it hadn't been a double period. Even then, though…

Draco glanced back up to find big green eyes looking at him confusedly, and he smiled to himself. It was probably because he had been with Harry.

Realising that Harry was waiting for him to speak, Draco hurried on, "I think we should get a move on with this thing, I mean, I know we have the rest of term to complete it, but who knows how long it might take to get everything done. Plus, we wouldn't want to leave it too long and risk Severus's fury."

Harry nodded in agreement. Cheered by this, Draco continued, "So, maybe we could meet in the library tonight, to get some basic information down? Are you free after dinner?"

Harry's head spun. Alone with Draco…in the library…more time spent in close proximity with the blonde…quickly, he mentally checked whether he had anything happening that night, like Quidditch practise. The fortunate answer was no, so Harry very shyly smiled at Draco. "Yeah, I'm free. That'd be good."

Draco's heart stopped completely at the sight of that smile that he had loved and treasured and watched for so long being aimed at _him. _Harry was really, truly, uniquely beautiful, but he was made even more so when he smiled. It was the kind of smile that sent most of the girls in the school's hearts fluttering, and Draco found out he was no exception.

Hesitantly, Draco managed to smile back. "Excellent."

The wonderfully shy and awkward moment that could've existed was promptly interrupted by the sound of raised voices in the back of the classroom. Eye contact between the two boys was broken as they swivelled around on their stools to see what was happening.

In the back rows of the classroom, a commotion was being caused as Ron and Blaise Zabini stood at opposite ends of their table, firing heated insults back and forth, each looking more and more infuriated as time passed. Hermione had left her place at her table with Pansy to stand behind Ron and try and make sure he didn't kill Zabini, while Theodore Nott had come over from his table to do likewise for his new boyfriend.

An instant later, or so it seemed, Snape had left his desk out the front and swooped between the rows to the back of the classroom and the source of the disturbance in his class.

"And just what is going on here?" he sneered, looking back and forth between the two wild-eyed students.

Ron's blue eyes were alive with fury – he turned to Snape, knowing it was probably futile but determined to speak his side of the story first.

"That…that bloody…" he paused, glaring heatedly at Zabini, "…_Slytherin_ was insulting my family, sir."

Snape raised a sardonic eyebrow. "Oh really?" he drawled. "And surely in the years that you have been here, Mr Weasley, you would know by now that you should tell your professor should any hostility arise between yourself and another student, rather than retaliate? I assume that is what he did?" he drawled questioningly, glancing over to Zabini.

Zabini absently smoothed his hair down. Except for the malicious light burning in his dark eyes, you wouldn't be able to tell he had just been fighting. "Yes, sir." he said smoothly, smirking at Ron. "He retaliated by insulting my mother."

Snape turned back to Ron, eyebrow raised once more. "Is that true, Mr Weasley?" he questioned.

Ron glared daggers at the dark-skinned boy. "Yes, sir." he said through gritted teeth.

"Well well, perhaps you should learn to control your tempers. The both of you." he added, black eyes flickering between the pair. "I think this warrants, let me see…5 points from Slytherin."

The mouths of every Slytherin student in the room fell open in horror.

Snape smirked. "And 15 points from Gryffindor."

"WHAT?!"

The general noises of outrage and protest that swept through the Gryffindors were drowned out by Ron's shriek of fury.

"And you will both serve detentions with me, tonight, after dinner. There are few things I will not tolerate, and they are stupidity, an inability to control yourself, and disruptions in my class. You have unfortunately exhibited all three." Snape sneered with malice. Even as he finished speaking, Ron began to protest the unfairness of the number of points being taken off Gryffindor.

"Do not make things worse for yourself, Mr Weasley." Snape said silkily, "Or I will make it 25 points. Are we clear?"

Ron opened his mouth, but shut it again at a nudge from Hermione. "Yes, sir." he said sullenly.

"Good." Snape smirked as the bell rang, signalling the start of lunch. "Class dismissed."

Everyone in the class immediately grabbed their things and headed for the door, eager to get to the Great Hall. Harry didn't even glance at Malfoy as he gathered his things in an effort to get to where Ron was simmering furiously as the others tried to calm him down.

"Don't worry about it Ron, everyone knows that wasn't your fault." Hermione was saying soothingly as Harry arrived.

"Yeah, mate, it was all bloody Zabini's fault." Dean added.

Ron growled low in his throat. "I know, it's just…argh!" he looked angry and very upset.

"Let's just head to lunch." Neville reasoned, "before all the good seats are taken."

Wordlessly Ron began to move to the doorway. Harry and his friends followed, and Harry was nearly out the door when he heard his name spoken behind him.

"Potter?"

Harry turned.

"Library, after dinner?"

Harry smiled shyly again. "Library, after dinner." he confirmed, before turning back and hurrying to catch up with his friends, leaving a goofily smiling blonde Slytherin behind him.

HPDM

Lunchtime was mainly spent furiously bad-mouthing Snape and Zabini, as well as discussing what topics everyone was doing for the project.

It turned out Hermione and Pansy had decided to go with the Wolfsbane potion, while Neville and Nott had selected the Polyjuice potion. Ron (after muttering darkly under his breath) informed the others he and Zabini had chosen to do a potion that changed your mood every minute after drinking it, while Seamus said through a mouthful of potato that he and Crabbe had opted for the invisibility potions. Dean explained that he and Goyle were going to research a potion to induce extreme euphoria.

Harry finished off by telling the others about his and Malfoy's chosen potion.

"It's called Verfor…fortue? I think. I can't really remember." Harry shrugged.

The others nodded, looking vaguely confused, but Hermione's brown eyes widened as she gasped.

"Something wrong, 'Mione?" Ron questioned, glancing at her, puzzled.

Hermione was thinking fast. Unlike Harry and the others, she was genuinely interested in Potions and had spent time doing background reading on it (as she did for every other subject, anyway.) She knew perfectly well what the potion Harry and Malfoy would be studying was, and she knew what its effects were.

It would be best if Harry found out for himself.

"Oh, nothing." Hermione lied, busying herself with her food. "I thought you meant another potion. I was mistaken. Don't worry about it."

The others raised their eyebrows at each other, before shrugging and turning back to the matter at hand – Ron's detention that night with Snape and Zabini.

"I'll bloody kill that slimy git." Ron sulked. "Actually, just Slytherins in general. They're all lying, arrogant, slimy gits."

He punctuated this by stabbing his roast beef - hard.

"Well, I don't know about that, Ron." Hermione pointed out. "Malfoy hasn't really done anything to us since the truce."

"Yeah, but still." Ron was now glowering at the meat on the end of his fork. "It's probably just because he's scared Harry will retaliate if he tries anything. Stupid, stinking, cowardly Slytherins…"

Harry flushed a light pink at this. Yeah, he probably would end up retaliating if Malfoy tried anything…just maybe not in the way Ron envisioned.

"Right, Harry?"

Harry swallowed. "Yeah. Sure, Ron."

…awkward.

HPDM

The rest of their classes that day passed in a blur of anxiety and anticipation for Harry. All he could think of was that in a matter of hours he would be alone, truly alone, with Malfoy. In the library, yes, but still alone.

Harry was sure he had never felt this excited or this terrified in his life.

As a result, dinner found him sitting at the Gryffindor table, flanked by his friends, and shaking so badly anyone would think winter had arrived early.

"Harry, what's gotten into ya, mate?" Seamus questioned as they all watched him try to cut up his chicken with shaking hands.

Hermione gave Seamus a Look of her very own, and then extended it to include the other three boys, who immediately looked away from Harry and busied themselves with their food.

Distantly, Harry was extremely grateful that he and Ron had battled that troll in first year and ended up friends with Hermione, whose intuition had saved him many a time. But, it of course meant that she knew what he was shaking about, so thus he couldn't bring himself to thank her more than shooting her a grateful, albeit shaky, smile.

Hermione smiled back. When the others were suitably occupied with their own conversations, she leaned over and murmured to Harry. "It has something to do with Malfoy, doesn't it?"

Harry froze, and then slowly swivelled his head to murmur back, "N-no, 'Mione, what makes you think that?"

Hermione grinned. Woman's intuition triumphs again. She murmured, "What happened, Harry?"

"Um…nothing. I'm just meeting him in the library after this to get a start on the Potions project. He didn't do anything." Harry added quickly, carefully avoiding her gaze.

"Whatever you say, Harry." Hermione said with a hint of amusement in her voice, before straightening up again.

Denial was probably one of the more amusing things in this world.

Ron's laughter cut through her thoughts and she glanced over to see his face alight with merriment as he laughed at something Dean had said.

Hermione felt her cheeks warm.

Except when it was your own denial, of course.

HPDM

At approximately 8:00 that night, Harry was to be found approaching the library. Dinner had finished half an hour ago, but Harry had left early and hurried to Gryffindor Tower, with the goal of attempting to look halfway presentable in mind. He wasn't entirely sure he'd succeeded, but he was wearing the smallest pair of jeans he had, and an emerald green t-shirt that he guessed matched his eyes fairly well. His hair, of course, hadn't obeyed him and now looked even more wild and messy than usual, but he didn't really think about that.

He pushed open the doors of the library and moved in past Madame Pince's desk, scanning the tables and rows of book anxiously for the familiar head of blonde hair.

Spotting the person he was looking for over in the corner, he hurried over to the table, his beat up joggers barely making a sound on the faded carpet.

Harry arrived at the table just as Malfoy looked up from what he was doing.

'_Oh my god, he looks gorgeous.'_ Draco's mind screamed, as he eyed Harry's outfit and hair, before it occurred to him he should say something.

"Hey, Potter." Draco greeted as calmly as he could. He swept his arm in a grand gesture towards the other chair at the table.

Harry sat, and cleared his throat nervously. "Hey, Malfoy."

"So," Draco began, "I brought my potions texts down, and they both mention the Verfortue potion, so I thought we could start with the basic information about it. That OK?"

Harry nodded. "Sure. That's fine." He noted with amusement that Malfoy seemed to be scarily similar to Hermione where enthusiasm levels relating to schoolwork were concerned. Malfoy passed him one of the books. Harry glanced at it – it was very thick and heavy, covered with Slytherin-green leather. On the spine, in thin, elegant silver writing, was written the title: 'Practically Every Potion In Existence: A Guide.'

Harry snorted in amusement and flipped to the page Malfoy had marked out for him. Pages 394 and 395 were completely dedicated to the Verfortue potion.

Malfoy scooted his chair closer, so they could both see the book. Harry's face flushed a light pink again; something Draco was quick to notice. He smirked to himself as he leaned in close under the pretext of seeing the writing better.

"The Verfortue Potion is also known as the 'Accidental Truth' potion. Moderate in difficulty to brew, it has the effect on the drinker of making them blurt out a truth about themselves at random for exactly 12 hours after taking it."

Draco cleared his throat and glanced at Harry. "Straightforward so far, Potter?"

"Yeah." Harry answered, beginning to see the reasoning behind Hermione's gasp during lunchtime when she had heard the name of the potion.

Draco continued, "Drinkers of the potion have described, after taking it, a sensation of being out of control, also stating that before they spoke the truth, they experienced a definite feeling or compelling to say something."

"It is often mistaken for the Veritaserum, but the two potions are in fact very different. While Veritaserum causes the drinker to reveal information about themselves only when prompted, Verfortue causes the drinker to reveal information about themselves at random. The nature of this information depends on several factors, including any feelings or sights relevant to the drinker, which act as a trigger."

"And so on." Draco concluded, eyes skimming through the next paragraphs. "I think we should write some basic points down, so we have a basis to work from when the work gets more complex."

Harry nodded. It was a good idea. "OK. How about you cover history and the theory behind it, and I'll do reasons behind its use and the comparison between it and Veritaserum?"

Draco nodded as well, very pleased with how this was going. Harry was being polite, civil. It was a huge step up from their rivalry of the past, not to mention the tense and confused emotions between them over the last fortnight.

They got to work, the only sound soft scratching of their quills as they wrote, and the sound of their breathing.

Draco decided as he wrote that he rather liked this Potions project, if it meant he could be sitting this close to Harry and talking to Harry and just being with Harry.

Harry, meanwhile, was finding it very hard to concentrate, even as he determinedly jotted down points from the book. Malfoy was barely 30 centimetres away from him, he could feel the warmth radiating from him…hell, if he moved his left hand just a bit, it could be touching Malfoy's right hand…

Actually, that was odd, he wasn't writing with his right hand. "You're a lefty, Malfoy?" he queried.

Draco looked up from his writing. "Yeah, Potter, so?" he shot back. "I'll have you know plenty of famous people in history have been left handed."

Harry grinned, despite himself. "Oh really? Name one."

Thrilled at the sight of the smile, Draco found himself momentarily lost for words. "Um…"

Harry laughed. "There you go." he said cheerfully, returning to his work.

Draco vaguely wondered if he should search the library floor for his stomach, as the bottom of it seemed to have parted with his body upon hearing Harry laugh at something he, Draco Malfoy, had done.

Maybe not.

He was just about to start writing again when he realised something.

"Hey, Potter?"

"Mmm?"

"What date is it today?"

Harry looked up at him, green eyes puzzled. "Um…it's the 27th October. Why?"

"I knew it." Draco absently tapped his quill on his parchment. "It's been two weeks since you called that truce with me."

"Oh." Harry was momentarily quiet.

"Is that…a good thing?"

Draco pretended to consider. "Yes. Yes, I think it is."

"Oh. Good." Harry said. "It's…it's been a good thing for me, as well." He ducked his head, blushing in spite of himself.

"Oh?"

"Well, like, it's been good not having to worry about you provoking me or my friends all the time…like, just leaving me free to concentrate on other things." '_Like you.' _he added silently.

Draco nodded, tactfully deciding not to bring up the kiss they had shared just over a week ago. "Well, that's good then. I'm glad you called it, you know, Potter."

Harry blushed some more. "I'm glad I did too."

They went back to work. Draco reflected as he moved on to the theory behind the potion that he hadn't felt so at peace at the world since…

…well, ever.

And it was all because of the currently blushing Gryffindor who was scratching away with his quill beside him.

_TBC_

**AN: Whoa. This chapter ended up longer than I originally intended. Hope you enjoyed it, nonetheless.**

**Thanks so much for reading, and please review!**

**bleedingxheart**


	15. Research Sessions

**AN: Hey, everyone! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, and welcome to 2007.**

**I've done some planning, and by my calculations I think the story will be finished in 2 chapters, give or take. Commence the countdown!**

**Thanks heaps to everyone who reviewed!**

**Here's chapter 15.**

Research Sessions

_Friday, November 27th_

Harry frowned at his Herbology essay ('Explain and compare the needs of the Blood Flower and the Ice Flower'), and crossed his conclusion out with frustration.

Ron looked over from the other side of the table. "Problems, Harry?" he questioned.

"No, I'm fine." Harry said with some irritation, scanning the first paragraphs of the essay in an attempt to figure out what went wrong.

Dean chuckled. He was seated in Seamus's lap and was contentedly playing with the Irish boy's sand-coloured curls. "You shouldn't have spent so much time in the library with Malfoy last night, Harry." He observed. "You could've done that essay then instead of now."

"I know, I know." Harry muttered, skimming through the final paragraphs.

"What time was it you got back from the Library again, Harry?" Hermione questioned (seemingly) innocently.

Harry glanced up at her with a glare. "Not _that _long after curfew." He huffed. "Only 9:30."

"Right, of course. Only." Hermione said with a ghost of a smirk.

Harry looked back to his essay. Having given it up as a lost cause, he began a complete re-write of the conclusion.

Hermione watched Harry out of the corner of her eyes. Over the past month, Harry had been spending a fair amount of time in the library with Malfoy, researching for their Potions project. No one thought anything of it – they were each spending fairly large amounts of time with their own project partners. Hermione herself could admit she had seen more of Pansy Parkinson's pug face in the past month than she'd ever wanted to see in her lifetime.

But something that escaped everyone else's attention was that Harry didn't really complain at all about his interactions with Malfoy. When they all began to bitch about their potions partners, as they were wont to do, Harry only spoke about his experiences with Malfoy when questioned, and even then it was just a vague, "Same old, same old" or a slightly defensive, "He hasn't been much of a problem since we called the truce."

These were answers that the others seemed to find fair enough, but Hermione knew better. He wasn't complaining about the time he spent with Malfoy because he liked the time he spent with his crush, plain and simple.

Thus, she hadn't been able to resist having some subtle digs at Harry during the last month. Nothing mean, just a few well-chosen words to let him know she knew the truth, that was all.

She suspected he was getting the point.

"Anyone got the time?" Neville now asked, taking a break from his Charms homework to look around the group.

"It's nearly 8:00." Ron replied after a quick check of his watch.

"Shit!" was Harry's contribution. He frantically wrote some final lines of the essay and hurriedly began to roll the parchment up. "I'm late!"

"Late for what?" Neville questioned, frowning.

"Oh, that's right." Seamus said from his position under Dean. "You're meeting with Malfoy in the library at 8:00, aren't you?"

"Yes!" Harry said, sweeping his things into his bag. "I can't be late! I've gotta go, I'll see yas later!"

With that, he stood and practically sprinted from the Common Room, earning himself some odd looks from the younger Gryffindors in the process.

Dean raised an eyebrow. "Why's he in such a rush? Who cares if he's late for Malfoy?"

Neville shrugged. "Dunno. He's been acting a bit…well, unusually, lately."

"Yeah." Ron said. "Maybe it's just stress. I can't bloody believe how much work we have to do!"

"Yes, you're right Ron, it's probably stress." Hermione was quick to agree. "We shouldn't worry about him too much."

The others seemed to decide that if Hermione, queen of reading people, held that opinion then there really wasn't a need to worry. They went back to what they were doing, with Hermione breathed a quick sigh of relief. That had been close.

HPDM

Harry hurtled down another flight of stairs, cursing under his breath. Stupid Herbology essay – he really didn't want to be late to meeting Draco. He got so superior whenever Harry was late to their research sessions, and he didn't want to endure it again.

Harry had to admit though, despite this occasional annoyance at their start, the research sessions he'd been having with Draco had turned out to be almost…pleasant. Harry was surprised. He had never realised Draco could be so easy to get along with, but that was what had been happening in the past month.

It was also interesting to note he could no longer think of Draco as Malfoy. Draco was…Draco. He still referred to Draco as Malfoy with his friends, but last names just didn't see appropriate anymore between them.

It was funny; given different circumstances Harry would almost consider Draco to be a friend, of sorts. Of course, being friends with someone whom you thought about as much as Harry did about Draco was impossible, but nonetheless.

Finally, Harry arrived at the floor the library was on. He promptly sprinted down the corridor, not even bothering to slow as he approached the library doors. He burst through them, and sprinted past Madam Pince's desk. Madam Pince frowned disapprovingly at him, but he barely spared her a glance as he looked for the clock on the wall behind her. Exactly 8:00.

Continuing on, Harry slowed to a swift jog past the long rows of books, heading for the now familiar table he and Draco always sat at during their research sessions.

To both his amusement and exasperation, he found that Draco was already there, all necessary materials organised neatly on the table.

As Harry approached, panting slightly, Draco had to restrain himself. Harry always looked gorgeous, of course, but with his hair messier than ever and cheeks flushed with the exertion of running.

"You're late." He commented, keeping his voice steady. He tried to smirk, but barely managed to conceal a smile.

Harry checked his watch. The time ticked over to 8:01.

"Barely." He retorted, trying to look annoyed but finding it difficult not to smile back.

"You really need to learn good time management." Draco deadpanned. "Good time management is essential to effective living."

Harry laughed as he sat down opposite Draco. "I get the feeling I've heard that somewhere before."

"You're imagining things." Draco said easily, grinning, as Harry began to pull out parchment, ink and a quill.

Draco watched him do so and wondered at how different he felt now compared to how he felt about 2 months or so ago. Back then, he was guarded and miserable. Now days, he was open and…there was no other word for it…_happy._ Happy, because he had, for the last month, been enjoying the frequent company of one Harry Potter. Happy, because miraculously, as a result of their frequent contact and interaction, they had developed a kind of friendliness between them.

It wasn't what Draco wanted. What Draco wanted could be better described as, _'I-love-you-you-love-me-let's-make-babies',_ but it was a damn slight better than what it used to be.

"So," Harry began after he had fished his quill from the bottom of his bag. "What are we doing this time?"

Draco gave a little sigh as he rifled through one of the many books on the table. "Honestly, I told you two days ago. You should pay more attention."

"Sorry." Harry said a little sheepishly as Draco passed him the book. "I've had a lot on my plate recently."

"It's OK." Draco smiled. "Now, I found this book, which I think might have some useful information about Veritaserum for you to use in your comparison."

"Thanks." Harry said, scanning over the writing in the book. It was an entire page worth. He took up his quill, dipped it into the ink and began writing.

After that initial first research session a month ago, it had gotten a lot easier to be around Draco. Even though his heart still did flips when Draco smiled at him, and he blushed so much his face was nearly constantly pink, it had gotten better because now he could pretty much control these things. He wasn't sure about what Draco felt, but he wasn't going to push it without good reason.

What he didn't know, of course, was that Draco was completely aware of the things Harry was trying to hide. It was adorable when he blushed, or his voice shook, or when Draco caught Harry staring at him. Draco was rather inclined to enjoy this, because he'd waited long enough for it.

"Hey, Draco?" Harry ventured.

Draco looked up from what he was doing. "Yeah?"

"What's the day all of this is due?"

"Um…" Draco tapped his quill absent-mindedly against the table. "December 23rd. It's a Wednesday."

Harry nodded. "That's a bit less than a month. We'll finish this in plenty of time."

"Well, I don't know about that." Draco said doubtfully. "I still have to perfect what I wrote about the theory behind the potion, you still have to write the comparison, and I don't think we have enough about the history…"

As Draco rattled on, Harry had to laugh. Draco really was like Hermione when it came to schoolwork.

"Whatever you say." Harry said cheerfully, before something else occurred to him. "So on that day, we have to hand in the theory and make the potion, right?"

"And test it." Draco nodded.

Because of what Harry knew of their chosen potion's effects, he still felt apprehensive about this part. "Right." He said uncomfortably. "How are we going to make the potion correctly if we've never made it before?"

Draco considered. It was a good point, and something he'd overlooked. "That's true. Maybe the week before we should meet up and try and make the potion for practise."

Harry gulped. Even more alone time with Draco…very possibly under the influence of Verfortue…the idea was exhilarating and terrifying at the same time.

"Yeah." He managed. "I guess we could do that."

'_He's blushing again!' _cheered Draco's brain, but all Draco said was, "We'll need more time to perfect the theory, so I'd say we should aim to have that finished by the Friday before the project is due. Then, that night we can try and brew the potion."

Harry gulped again. "Y-yeah. That's a good idea."

"Alright!" Draco said happily. "We've got something to aim for now. We should get back to work."

He promptly did so, but Harry looked around distractedly first. Several Ravenclaw third-years were staring at them open-mouthed from a few tables over. He sighed inwardly. Every time they did this, there were always some students nearby who watched them the whole time. Harry guessed that it must seem shocking, to see the two people everyone thought hated each other getting along so well, but it was irritating nonetheless.

Resignedly, he got back to work.

HPDM

Not long after, Harry stretched and checked his watch. "Shit, it's nearly 9:00. We should pack up."

Obligingly, Draco began closing books and putting away his things. Harry did the same, until their table was clear.

They exited the library together, and walked until they reached the point where they had to go their separate ways, where they paused.

Harry rubbed the back of his neck. "Erm, I have Quidditch practise tomorrow night, so how about the next night, we meet back at the library at 8:00?"

"Alright. Try not to be late this time." Draco smirked.

"Shut up." Harry said, grinning.

"Good night, Harry."

"Good night, Draco."

After a few seconds of awkwardness, they both set off, Harry into a secret passageway that would lead him to Gryffindor Tower, Draco down a staircase leading to the lower floors.

They both looked back just before these, making eye contact once more. Harry blushed, but Draco merely waved an elegant hand, before heading down the steps. Harry listened to Draco's fading footsteps, then, smiling slightly, began climbing up the passageway, heading for the Common Room.

HPDM

_Wednesday, 9th December_

The sound of the bell rang throughout the castle, signalling that the last classes of the day were at their end. The previously silent halls were suddenly filled with throngs of people as students poured from their classrooms and swept along the corridor, pulled towards dinner like a moth to a flame.

Among those leaving the Hufflepuff/Gryffindor Charms class were Harry and his friends, who joined the crowds and immediately began to be swept along.

"One, two, three…" Hermione was counting them as they started down a staircase. "Wait a minute, we're missing someone! Where's Neville?"

"Here." Came his quiet voice from behind them, as he squeezed in between two bulky Slytherins to join his friends. "Got a little lost in the crowd."

"Blimey, this never gets any better, does it?" Ron asked, referring to the crowds of students around them who were now heading as one for the Grand Staircase.

"Nup." Seamus said cheerfully, effortlessly manouvering past a particularly slow pair of second year Hufflepuffs. "That's what makes it so much fun."

Eventually Harry and his friends reached the Great Hall and took their usual seats at Gryffindor table. The evening's meal (Pumpkin soup and lamb cutlets) appeared on the plates as everyone reached for the food.

"It's hump day today." Seamus commented as he poured himself some pumpkin juice. "Only a few more days until the weekend."

"Hump day, eh?" Dean said in a suggestive purr, while the others all groaned and laughed at the pair.

"Not like _that, _Dean." Ron said good-naturedly.

"Anyway," Seamus continued as though he had not been interrupted, "Not long to the weekend. I don't expect I'll do any homework tonight. I need to relax."

Hermione frowned. "Now really, Seamus, considering all the work the teachers have been giving us this week, you can't afford a night off homework."

"And considering the Potions project as well." Neville chimed in.

Everyone else (with the exception of Harry) groaned.

"Bloody hell." Ron said. "I was trying to forget about that. I have to meet with Zabini tonight to work on the theory for ours."

It turned out that Hermione and Neville were also scheduled to meet with their potions partners that evening.

"How are you guys going with yours?" Harry asked them.

Neville spoke first. "Alright. Nott is serious enough about his grades to know that time insulting me would be time wasted on doing a good job. He even goes far enough to explain some of the more complicated notions behind the work to me when I don't understand."

"Lucky." Hermione said. "Pansy is an absolute cow. During the few times I've convinced her to meet with me, all she's done is sneer. She's done maybe one page of research, I think."

The others made noises of sympathy and anger. Hermione waved them away.

"But I'm not going to stand for it anymore. For goodness sake, it's a joint project. She should do an equal amount of work to me. If she doesn't do it herself I will _make _her." Hermione gave a smile that was truly evil. The others laughed and made general comments of enthusiasm and glee.

"What about you, Ron?" Seamus asked.

"Well, as we all know Zabini is an arrogant prick." Ron said. "But he's like Nott – he wants to do well. So the actual work is going good. I just want to smash his face in, that's all."

Everyone laughed.

"How's work with Malfoy been going, Harry?" Dean asked. "You don't talk much about it."

A blush sprung up on Harry's cheeks, and he coughed nervously. "Um, fine. Just fine. He doesn't really say much. We just get the work done."

"Oh." There didn't seem to be much more to say to that. Conversation resumed.

Hermione privately wondered how much longer Harry would spin that line before anyone realised he was lying.

_TBC_

**AN: Yes, it's short. I wanted to update before moving onto to the final two chapters. So, next time, expect Draco and Harry to brew up a little practise Verfortue.**

**Thanks for reading, please review, and I'll see you next time!**

**bleedingxheart**


	16. I Love You, Harry Potter

**AN: Look at me go, updating like a madman. I updated only 3 days ago. You all better appreciate the dedication I have for this story now! Hahaha.**

**Thanks to the people who reviewed!**

**This is the 2nd to last chapter, so enjoy!**

'I Love You, Harry Potter'

_Friday, December 18th_

"Thank Merlin, it's nearly the weekend." Ron was saying as they passed onto the 6th floor. "I could faint with exhaustion."

Harry and his friends chuckled at this. It really had been a long couple of days.

"Harry?"

Harry turned around, wondering who could want to talk to him considering he was already surrounded by his friends. It turned out to be Ginny, nervously fiddling with a strand of her long red hair.

"Ginny." Harry greeted. He glanced around, and saw Ron and Hermione looked thunderstruck, while Neville, Seamus and Dean were not much better.

"I was wondering if I could talk to you, for a moment. Please. In private."

Harry considered. He could see no harm in it, and even though it had been a little over two months since their break-up, they were already attracting a fair amount of curious glances from passer-by.

"Alright." He allowed. He looked to his friends. "Go ahead, I'll catch you guys up."

Ron opened his mouth, but Hermione stepped (hard) on his foot.

"OK, Harry." She said, ignoring Ron's indignant squeak. "See you at breakfast."

She grabbed Ron's arm and began dragging him off down the corridor, the others waving to Harry before following suit.

Harry turned back to Ginny. "Well?"

"Hang on, we need to go somewhere with less people." Ginny said, looking around. Spotting a nearby door, she led Harry into what turned out to be the Ancient Runes classroom.

Harry went to a desk, perched on its edge and regarded Ginny wearily. She was standing in front of him, but luckily not too close.

He didn't say anything this time, just waited for her to speak.

"Well…OK, here's the thing, Harry." Ginny said. "I know that the way I treated you was really callous, and I know spreading those rumours was immature and selfish and nasty of me. I know that I probably don't deserve your friendship, let alone you."

Here she took a breath, and continued. "But ever since we broke up, I've been thinking a lot about you and about what we used to have. And the truth is, Harry, I miss it."

Harry could only stare incredulously at her. Taking his silence as an invitation to continue, Ginny went on, "Before you start yelling at me, because I know you probably will, I want to let you know I've broken up with Justin…and Ernie, and Michael, and, well, everyone, because I've realised none of them are anything compared to you. They're just in it for the physical side of it, and none of them really _care _about me the way that you did."

Harry opened his mouth to speak, but Ginny cut him off. "I know I don't and probably never did deserve you, but I'm asking now if you could try and forget what happened and start afresh with me."

Apparently finished, she looked at him with big, pleading eyes, and waited.

Harry took a deep breath. Really, how much did life expect to throw at him before he wanted to kick its ass? He was already on edge about meeting with Draco that night for the practise potion, and now this?

"OK." Harry said, rubbing his face wearily. "OK." He repeated. "Ginny, you need to understand something. I'll admit that what we had once was good. It was, and I'll remember that time fondly. But the thing is, you betrayed me. I did nothing to deserve how you treated me. And I'm sorry, but I don't think we could ever go back to what we were. I don't trust you like I did, and with good reason!"

"But…" Ginny began, and this time Harry was the one cutting her off. "No, listen to me. A relationship between you and I just isn't possible. I don't feel that way about you anymore. I'm willing to be friendly with you, for Ron's sake, because I know it won't be good if things between you and I are awkward. But that's my limit, and that's all I can offer you." He finished firmly.

Ginny looked surprised, remorseful and unhappy all at once. "Well…I guess I barely deserve even that." She said quietly. "If that's the way you want it to be, I can do the same."

Harry breathed a sigh of relief. "Good. Now, let's go to breakfast before Ron eats all the food."

Ginny smiled reluctantly as Harry hopped off the desk, and then they left the classroom together.

HPDM

Herbology was Harry's first subject. Harry relayed what had transpired between himself and Ginny to Ron and Hermione as they began work on the plant of the day.

"…she said she could do that." Harry finished as he selected a pair of clippers.

Hermione bit her lip absently, looking amazed. "She actually…she was trying to…wow. You handled that really well, Harry."

"Yeah, mate." Ron contributed, who was also choosing a pair of clippers. "I know she's my sister and all, but you were nicer to her than she deserved."

"Yeah, well." Harry shrugged. He picked up a blue-handled pair and tried them out experimentally. "I knew I couldn't leave things on a bad note, with Christmas next Friday and everything. It would be way too awkward if there was too much bad feeling between her and I."

"That's true." Ron agreed. He had selected a red-handled pair of clippers and had apparently decided they were good enough to use. Harry decided to stick with his blue ones, while Hermione had procured pink ones. Together they began work on the Ever-Growing Bush, trimming determinedly at the branches and leaves.

"Won't it be hard to be friends with her, after what she did?" Hermione asked, frowning angrily at a particularly difficult branch.

"Probably." Harry said, having managed to successfully trim his branch down to the required length. "I've got to try, though, don't I?'

The others conceded this, but further discussion was cut off, as their focus was required on the bush in front of them.

HPDM

It was lunchtime when a school owl was seen swooping down towards the Gryffindor table, an envelope clutched in its beak. A few people saw it and pointed it out to their friends, but most were too involved in their conversations to notice. The owl swooped towards the centre of the table and landed neatly next to Harry, who looked at it confusedly. Post usually arrived during breakfast, and he hadn't received anything then. Who could be sending him a letter now?

Taking the envelope from the owl and thanking it, he began to open it as the owl spread its wings and returned from whence it came. Harry finished opening the envelope and pulled out a neatly folded piece of parchment. He unfolded it, and read:

_Harry, _

_I'll meet you in the Library at 8:00, as per usual. Try not to be late._

_Draco_

An uninvited blush crept onto his cheeks, as his friends watched him curiously.

"Who's it from, Harry?" Dean asked.

"D…Malfoy." Harry corrected himself. "Reminding me about our research session tonight."

Neville frowned. "He hasn't sent notes about it before, has he? What's so special about it this time?"

Realising he had no choice, Harry gave in. "Well, because it's due next week, we decided to try and finish as much as the theory as we could before tonight, as we're going to brew a practise potion to make sure we'll know what we're doing next Friday."

"Really? Wow." Seamus said. "Good luck with that."

Hermione pondered this new development as conversation resumed around her. The others weren't bothered about it because they didn't know anything about the potion Harry and Malfoy were researching. Because she did, she couldn't help but wonder – which of the two boys would test the practise potion, and what might be revealed from it?

No wonder Harry had been relatively quiet during their classes. He was _nervous._

For risk of sounding like Lavender Brown, Hermione gave a silent 'Awwwwww.'

Next to her, Harry was attempting to catch Draco's eye. Normally this wouldn't be so difficult, but things were slightly more complicated because Draco was currently talking to Pansy Parkinson, his expression of vague irritation visible from the other side of the Hall.

Harry watched as Pansy said something to Draco, who promptly waved her off, saying something back. Pansy turned to talk to Millicent, and Draco's gaze immediately went straight to where Harry was sitting.

Taken aback, Harry nonetheless smiled across the Hall to Draco, making vague motions that indicated he had received the note and was an affirmative for the plans. Draco smiled back, and the brightness of that smile had the effect of Harry feeling vaguely like someone had winded him.

They maintained awkward eye contact for another few thrilling seconds before Harry's gaze was torn away by Ron poking him in the arm, asking him about something or other to do with Quidditch. Harry answered his friend automatically, concentrating instead on the warm, terrifying thrill in his stomach at the thought of what would happen that night.

HPDM

Draco was in Transfiguration, sitting in his seat in that elegant, composed manner of his. For all appearances, anyone would believe he was listening to and processing every word of Professor McGonagall's lecture about human transfiguration. As it was, he was only pretending to do this; instead, he was pondering what the evening would bring.

The theory had been essentially finished – he and Harry had worked hard the last few weeks to get their research completed. Of course, there was some tweaking required here and there, but surprisingly, not too much was required with the work Harry had produced. Draco hadn't realised before that Harry could actually be academically intelligent when he wanted to be, especially at Potions.

In regards to the meeting that night, Draco was both nervous and excited. He didn't know who they would be testing the potion on and what could happen because of it, but hey, it was even more time spent with Harry, so Draco wasn't about to complain.

It occurred to him he should probably be paying attention to Professor McGonagall, but this thought was quickly dismissed by a more pressing need to daydream about Harry.

HPDM

Shortly before 8:00 that evening, Harry was to be found tracing a very familiar path through the corridors and down the staircases, heading for the Library once again. Afternoon classes and dinner had been very difficult to get through, and he was sincerely glad they were over.

On the other hand, now there was nothing standing in the way of him and however many hours of time spent with Draco. It was not because of this he was approaching his destination a little slower than usual. Oh no. Of course not.

Reaching the Library doors, he hesitated only for a brief moment before squaring his shoulders and marching determinedly inside, heading past Madam Pince's desk and on to his and Draco's regular table once more.

Draco was already there, as he always was. The time ticked over to 8:00 as Harry arrived at the table.

"Hey." Harry greeted.

Draco smiled. "Hey. I've got the book with the method for making the potion, and all our theory stuff in my bag in case we need to check it over once more. Have you got your research?"

Harry nodded. "Yep, it's in my bag too." He paused, and then went on, "I know a great place for us to make the potion." He looked hesitant. 'Unless you had somewhere in mind…?"

"What? No, no, I wasn't really sure about where we'd go for this." Draco said. "It's great, actually. Lead on."

He hopped up from his chair and allowed Harry to lead the way, past the bookshelves and past Madam Pince's desk, out of the Library.

Before Draco could pause and ask where exactly it was they were going, Harry was leading him down the corridor, up a staircase, along another staircase, through a secret passageway…

Eventually they ended up on the 7th floor, where on one side there was an enormous man-sized vase, a stretch of blank wall and then a small window. On the other side was a tapestry depicting Barnabas the Barmy's attempts to train trolls for the ballet. Harry grabbed Draco's arm, trying not to think too much about the warmth of said arm. Draco, meanwhile, was confused.

"Where the hell are we? Isn't this near where we found that defence group of yours? Surely you can't imagine we could make the potion here?"

Harry chuckled and shushed him. "Hush up. Now, follow my lead here, and think of what the most ideal place to make this potion would look like."

Draco looked incredulous. "Have you gone off your nut, or something?"

"Draco." Draco started at the actual verbalisation of his given name from Harry, deciding then and there he rather liked hearing it. "Just trust me on this, OK?"

Because it was Harry, Draco shut up and obediently pictured a place to make the potion as he and Harry walked back and forth in front of the tapestry.

On the third go, as they swivelled around, Draco saw that a door had suddenly appeared in the wall opposite the tapestry. Harry stopped, letting go of Draco's arm in the process.

"Perfect." He said with some satisfaction, leading Draco to the door and twisting open the knob.

Draco followed Harry inside, and felt his mouth drop. The room was medium sized, not too big yet not too small. The walls were panelled with a dark wood and on the wall immediately facing them was a window, framed with blood-red curtains that were tied back with black silk ribbons.

The floor also held the same dark panels of wood as the walls, and on the left side of the room was a soft, deep green rug which had a table in the centre, with a scattering of large, soft looking lounges and chairs semi-circling it.

The room was largely dominated by a table just like the ones in the Potions classroom, a large black cauldron and a darkly wooded table that held a number of bottles and jars filled with various ingredients. There was also a bookcase that upon closer inspection yielded several useful references on the Verfortue potion.

Draco turned to Harry, eyes wide and amazed. "How come I've never seen this room before? Or heard of it?"

Harry merely grinned. "Welcome to the Room of Requirement. It'll be whatever you want it to be – if you need somewhere quiet to study it'll be a quiet room with a nice desk for you, if you need to go to the toilet there'll be wide varieties of toilets…"

"Wow." Draco said simply, surveying the room once more. "I guess it would also make an excellent place to take someone if you needed some…alone time, with them."

He looked over at Harry and was gratified to see a pink tinge on Harry's face. Harry coughed nervously.

"Yes, I suppose it could be used for that." Harry admitted. Changing the subject, he said, "Well, I guess we should get started, shouldn't we?"

"Yes, you're right." Draco said, dumping his bag onto one of the lounges and locating the book with the method they needed, before heading over to the work area.

He surveyed the ingredients neatly arranged on the table, cross-referencing them against the list of ingredients in the book. Finding everything was exactly what they needed, he gestured Harry over.

"OK, we need to get these sliced." He said, passing Harry a jar. "And these need to be skinned…oh, and these have to be mixed together first before we add them…"

Harry ended up with an armful of jars. He hastily brought them to the desk and dumped them, then looked around.

'_I need things to prepare these ingredients with.'_ He thought, and immediately the required equipment appeared on the desk, ready to go.

Harry began to slice, skin and mix ingredients while Draco supervised the cauldron. They worked like this for at least half an hour, chatting about idle things while they worked. If either of them was nervous, they didn't let it show to the other.

"OK, what's next?" Harry asked, as Draco finished mixing the salamander blood in.

"We let it simmer for 5 minutes." Draco replied after a quick inspection of the book.

"Alright." There was a sudden silence. Harry cleared his throat and decided to ask the question that had been bugging him.

"Once we've brewed this…" he began, Draco turning grey eyes onto him, "who's going to be the one who tests it?"

There was a slightly strained silence, and then Draco said, "I don't know. If you want, I'll do it. I don't really mind."

"Really?" Harry's relief was obvious. "Thank you, that's really nice of you to volunteer."

Draco waved him away. "No problem, as long as you test it on Wednesday."

Happy that he had avoided the effects of the potion for the time being, Harry barely registered that he would have to do it himself in just a few days.

"So anyway." Draco said, keen for a change in subject. "Anything much been happening?"

"Not really." Harry said. "Just trying to cram schoolwork, friends, Quidditch and seeing you into my life."

Draco allowed himself a moment to feel pleased that Harry considered time spent with Draco separate from schoolwork.

"Actually," said Harry, just remembering, "something weird did happen to me today."

"Oh?"

"Well, I'm going to go on the assumption that you heard all the rumours about how me and Ginny broke up…"

Draco gave an audible growl. Harry shot him a bewildered look, but Draco composed himself and merely said, "Yeah, I heard them."

"OK." Harry said. "Well the thing was, they weren't true at all." He still wasn't entirely sure if he should be telling Draco this – only his closest friends knew the truth – but he felt he trusted Draco enough now to tell him. "I actually only broke up with her because someone sent Hermione a note saying that they'd seen Ginny cheating on me. Hermione got proof for herself it was true, and she told me and showed me the letter. The whole thing was made up."

"Oh, really?" Draco said, as if this was news to him.

"Yeah." Harry confirmed. "Anyway, I haven't been seeing much of her since…"

'_Good.'_ Thought Draco privately.

"…and it was awkward, yeah, but I didn't really want to talk to her. Anyway, what I was originally going to tell you, she came up to me this morning and asked to talk to me privately."

"Did she kiss you?" Draco asked, before wincing. Whoops.

Harry gave him a funny look. "Er…no…but she did ask if we could get back together, and apologised for what she did and stuff."

"WHAT?!" Draco cried, so angry he nearly upset the cauldron.

"Yeah, I know." Harry said, amused and a little perturbed at this excessive reaction. "That's what I thought."

"So you're not back together with her?" Draco tried to keep the hopeful tone from his voice.

In vain, because Harry noticed but decided not to comment. Instead, he gave a little snort of amusement. "God, no. I'm not that stupid."

Draco breathed a silent sigh of relief.

"I did, though, suggest that maybe she and I should try and be a bit more friendly, just coz Christmas is coming up and I don't want things to be bad between everyone."

It was so typically Harry, Draco mused, to put his own happiness aside so other people felt more comfortable.

"Hey, shouldn't it have been 5 minutes by now?" Harry asked, checking his watch.

"Shit!" Draco said, and he hurriedly stirred the potion. After inspecting it for a moment, he sighed with relief. "It's fine. A few seconds more and we would've had to start again."

"That's good." Harry said. Draco began to rattle off more instructions and Harry hurried to comply as they resumed work on the potion.

HPDM

About an hour and a half later, the nearly completed potion was bubbling away cheerfully in the cauldron. On a table over by the scattered lounges were two empty plates. Harry and Draco had realised an hour in that they were actually rather hungry, so they wished for some dessert from the room (Treacle tart for Harry, baked cheesecake for Draco).

Now, the time for the potion to be tested was nearly upon them and Draco wasn't even bothering to hide his apprehension as he timed the last segment of simmering.

"3…2…1…it's done." Draco said, looking over from his watch to where Harry was sitting, watching solemnly.

Harry nodded. "Alright."

'_I need something to drink the potion with.'_ Draco thought, and immediately a lovely, intricately carved silver goblet appeared beside the cauldron. Draco picked it up and swept it through the potion, which was a pleasant light blue colour. He toasted Harry in a mock salute and then drained it all in one gulp.

Swallowing, he set the goblet down and considered.

Harry was watching him curiously. "Well?"

"It tasted like vanilla." Draco said.

"Well, that's a good thing." Harry got up and walked over to Draco, studying his eyes for any signs of a change. "How do you feel?"

Draco was standing very still, as though listening to something. "It's…it's like…it's kind of hard to describe."

"Try to." Harry said, glancing in one of their books for a reference for what Draco was meant to be feeling.

"It's like…a bubbling…in my stomach…I feel out of control, like I could do or say anything at any time…"

That sounded about right, Harry thought.

"I…argh…" Draco put his hands to his stomach, wincing.

Startled, Harry put a comforting arm around Draco's shoulders and rubbed absently. "God, are you OK?"

"Yeah…" Draco said. "I just…I don't know what I'm going to…"

All of a sudden he stood up perfectly straight, pushing aside Harry's arm in the process. He looked Harry square in the eye and Harry had to shudder at the sight of those unnaturally brightly glowing silver eyes.

"Harry Potter, I was the one who sent the letter to Hermione Granger regarding the issue of Ginny Weasley cheating on you."

His voice had become suddenly louder, clearer, deeper. It was like another person was talking. Harry goggled in disbelief at Draco as he suddenly sucked in a breath and went back to holding his stomach. The bubbling sensation faded slowly until it was a mere hum in his stomach.

Harry swallowed, and managed, "You…you were the one who did that?"

Draco sighed. Might as well confess it fully now. "Yeah, I saw the whole thing and I knew you had to be informed somehow."

"Oh." Harry still looked stunned. "Then…why didn't you tell me yourself?"

Draco gave a somewhat bitter laugh. "Believe me, I would've loved to. But…I wasn't really your favourite person at that point."

"When…oh." Harry, obviously, had remembered the kiss and then what he had said to Draco afterwards.

He took a deep breath, and asked, "Where did you see them?"

Draco, still clutching his stomach although there wasn't really a need for it now, looked slightly embarrassed. "Um…the Astronomy Tower."

"The Astronomy Tower?" Harry repeated, confused. "What the hell where you doing up there?"

Draco flushed, and muttered something indistinct.

"What?"

"I said," Draco spoke in his normal voice, "I was up there because I…I…oh, hell, if you can't figure it out I don't really want to tell you. The point is that I was, and that I overheard the Weaselette and that Hufflepuff prick's little session and decided to figure out a way to let you know."

Harry still looked like he was inclined to press for more details, but decided against it. "Well…alright."

Draco sighed. "In the end, I decided Granger would check out her facts first and be able to convince you of the truth, and not be too harsh about it, so I wrote her an anonymous note."

"Oh." Harry considered this. He was touched at the effort Draco had gone to for him, considering the way Harry had been treating him at the time.

"Thank you, Draco." He said simply.

Draco looked startled, and then very pleased. "You're welcome, Harry." He replied.

There was a moment of comfortable silence before Harry cleared his throat and checked his watch.

"Shit, it's past 10." He said. "We should pack up, I think."

"Yeah." Said Draco quietly. "Now we know we can make the potion and that the potion works."

They made eye contact for a few brief moments before Harry looked away, embarrassed.

"Well…" he said awkwardly, and then began to gather his things. Draco did the same. When they were all packed up and ready to go, Draco pointed his wand to the potion inside the cauldron and said clearly, "Evanesco!"The contents of the cauldron immediately vanished.

"You didn't have to do that, you know." Harry said, amused. "The next person to use the room will need it for something completely different. Anything we leave in here will disappear once we close the door."

Draco shrugged. "Oh well." He said. "I wanted to do it anyway."

Smiling slightly, Harry led the way out of the Room of Requirement. They started out along the corridor, and when Draco looked back he was amazed to note the door opposite the tapestry had disappeared.

They arrived at an intersection where there were stairs leading up and stairs leading down. They both paused and looked at each other.

"Well…" Harry said.

"So…" Draco said.

"Thank you for agreeing to test the potion." Harry said abruptly, and then blushed. "It was a really nice thing of you to do."

"No problem." Draco said, finding himself unable to look away from Harry's face. That blush, those _eyes, _that smile, that mouth…

Draco was seized by the sudden urge to kiss that mouth, and he was actually leaning forward when he felt the bubbly sensation rising in his stomach once more, and knew he was about to impart some truth onto Harry.

Panicking, he said hurriedly, "I really have to go, I'll see you around. Bye!" and then before Harry could say more than 'OK, you too," Draco was down the stairs and out of sight.

Startled, Harry blinked after him before slowly turning and heading up the stairs for the Tower's corridor, telling himself determinedly that he had imagined Draco leaning in towards him just then.

Totally imagined it.

HPDM

In the downstairs corridor, Draco winced and clutching his stomach as the bubbly sensation increased. Then, taken by the overpowering urges of the potion, he straightened and said, again in the deep, loud, clear voice:

"I love you, Harry Potter."

He sucked in a breath and rubbed his stomach absently, feeling the bubbly sensation subside slowly once more as the potion realised its' need to force the truth from him had been sated.

He gave a little groan of frustration. One more minute and he would've been telling that deep secret to the object of his affection.

Thank God. And at the same time…dammit.

Draco rubbed his stomach again resignedly and set off down the corridor, headed for the Slytherin dorms many floors below.

_TBC_

**AN: Yay! That one was quite long, which I'm happy about. Hahaha bet you thought the chapter name meant he was going to tell him. No, not yet, sorry.**

** Remember, next chapter is the last one! I like to think I'm leaving you in suspense for what's going to happen, but let's face it, it's pretty obvious. Oh well. It'll be fun to write, anyway.**

**Thanks for reading and please review, this is your last chance before the final chapter!**

**bleedingxheart**


	17. The Accidental Truth Comes Out

**AN: Thanks to everyone who reviewed! Well! It's happened, we're finally here – the last chapter of Only In My Dreams. I won't say anything else, just let you get straight to it. Enjoy!**

The (Accidental) Truth Comes Out

_Tuesday, December 22nd_

There was a definite sense of excitement and anticipation in the air. It was Tuesday night in the last week of term. The general student body was looking forward to Christmas the coming Friday, and also to Saturday morning, when they would go to Hogsmeade Station after breakfast and leave for home.

These feelings were particularly obvious in the Gryffindor common room, where the students were happily relaxing, ignoring whatever homework they might have. Amidst the laughter, yelling and exuberant conversation, Harry and his friends had taken up their regular seats. Harry was versing Ron in a game of Wizard's Chess (which, inevitably, Harry was losing spectacularly), and Seamus and Dean were engaged in a rather heated session on a nearby chair.

Neville wasn't present, being in the library on a 'date', of sorts, with Luna Lovegood (something the others has already ensured he'd been teased about). Hermione, however, was not playing chess nor making out with anyone – she was in the corner, talking to Ginny.

Over the last week or so, Ginny had slowly been hanging out with them a little more and talking to each of them more. In particular, Ginny had been conversing with Hermione regularly. It was a little awkward and stilted, as Hermione knew she would probably never forgive Ginny completely for what she did to Harry, but she knew for the sake of the group she and Ginny needed to get along. So, Hermione had uneasily slipped back into the close friendship that had existed before between the two of them.

She'd helped Ginny with homework when it was needed, and had heard the full extent of Ginny's story in regards to Harry.

Not surprisingly, the first part of this was truly pathetic and inexcusable – Ginny really had not had a truly good reason for what she'd done. An unexpected happening, however, had been hearing what Ginny had to say now she and Harry had been apart for two months.

Even though Ginny really did not deserve sympathy from anyone, Hermione couldn't help but give it. Ginny truly had changed for the better, only unfortunately for her, it was too late. No matter that she'd realised the error of her ways, nor that she had reformed – the simple fact was that Harry was in love with Malfoy.

Of course, she couldn't actually _tell _Ginny this. Instead, when questioned by Ginny as to what she thought the true reason behind Harry's reluctance to be with her was, Hermione simply repeated what Harry himself had told her – he didn't feel that way about her, and couldn't trust her enough again. Which was the truth…just altered slightly.

The only thing was Ginny didn't seem to be able to get it.

"But I need him." She was saying, absently playing with a strand of her red hair.

Hermione sighed. "No, Ginny, you don't. What you need is someone to care about you. You're only thinking you need him because he's the only one who has ever treated you the way you needed to be treated."

"No!" Ginny insisted. "I do, I really do need him."

Hermione resisted the urge to whack her head against the nearby wall or whack some sense into Ginny. Instead, she questioned again, patiently, "What were your relationships like once you broke up with Harry?"

"Purely physical." Ginny said. "They didn't really care about me, just about what I could do."

"There you go." Hermione said. "Find someone who'll like you for more than physical reasons. There has to be someone else here besides Harry who knows how to treat a girl properly."

Silence. And then…

"But what do I do if there isn't?"

Hermione gave a sigh of frustration, just as Ron glanced over to them from the chessboard.

"Looks like 'Mione's having fun with Ginny." He commented, grinning.

Harry didn't look up, as he was studying the board and calculating his next move. "Yeah." He said absent-mindedly, frowning at the pieces.

"It hasn't been that bad, the last week, has it?" Ron mused.

Having finally located a workable move, Harry triumphantly moved his bishop three spaces across. He leaned back. "No, it hasn't. It's been alright."

"Blimey, I'm glad it's nearly holidays though." Ron said, scanning the board briefly before advancing a knight forward. "Check."

Harry groaned, leaning forward once more. After he'd managed to save his King from near disaster, he leaned back again. "Yeah. It'll be good to see the twins and your parents and everybody again."

"Yeah." Said Ron, barely even looking at the board for more than a few seconds before his castle swooped. "Check and mate, my friend."

"Dammit." Harry said exasperatedly, before sighing and grinning at his friend. 'Good game, Ron."

"Thanks." Ron said easily, before changing the subject. "Basically, all that's really left to get through is the Potions project tomorrow. Are you all ready for yours?"

"Pretty much." Said Harry, who felt a vague sensation of nausea every time the subject of the next day came up. It had eventually registered over the weekend that as Draco had tried the practise potion, he would be trying the actual potion, a fact that had kept him awake most nights with anxiety. "What about you?"

"As ready as I'm going to be, I guess." Ron said. "I'm just praying that Zabini doesn't try to screw it up purely to get me in trouble."

"He won't Ron, remember you said yourself that he cares about his grades?"

"Yeah, I suppose." Ron allowed. "I just want to get it out of the way!"

"What potion were you guys doing, again?" Harry asked.

"Modabeo Potion. It changes your mood every minute after you drink it for about an hour." Ron answered.

Harry gave a low whistle. "Wow. Which if you is going to be drinking it?"

"Me." Ron said glumly. "I volunteered to try and head off more fights."

"That was generous of you." Harry couldn't keep the surprise from his voice, something that Ron noticed

"Hey! I can be generous when I want to be, you know." He said, outraged, aiming a blow for Harry's shoulder.

Harry laughed and ducked the hit easily. "Yeah, I know."

Ron pulled out his wand and waved it over the chessboard, and the pieces began to move into their original and correct positions. Harry took the opportunity to look around and see how everyone else was doing. Dean and Seamus were still suitably occupied, while Hermione was obviously still deep in conversation with Ginny.

Harry watched them for a moment, thinking. After Draco had told him on Friday night that he had sent the letter to Hermione alerting her to Ginny's cheating, he had eventually decided that perhaps it would be best to tell Hermione as well. He chose Sunday night as the night to tell her about it. Hermione had been surprised and a little confused.

"But why would he have been so nice to you, Harry?" she'd asked.

He'd shrugged and said, "I have no idea. I'm just glad he was."

Hermione seemed to have let the matter go, which he was relieved about.

But unbeknownst to him, she had taken up a little correspondence of her own after that enlightening conversation.

She'd gone straight up to the Girls' dorm, sat at a desk and penned a letter immediately.

_Malfoy,_

_Harry told me it was you who sent me that letter about Ginny cheating. I don't really understand why you chose to be nice to him rather than exploit that potential weakness. I may never know. But I just wanted to thank you for it, nonetheless. You did Harry a great service that day. So, thank you._

_Sincerely,_

_Hermione Granger_

She had sent it that night, and to her surprise a reply had arrived the very next morning.

_Granger,_

_Don't worry about it. I only did what any decent human being would've done (and yes, I can be decent when I want to be). You don't owe me any gratitude._

_Sincerely,_

_Draco Malfoy_

She had been shocked by the overall pleasant and polite tone of Malfoy's reply. Maybe there really was a method to Harry's madness – if Malfoy acted like this towards Harry, it was no wonder he'd fallen for him. Hermione had concluded that if anything ever happened between the two, she couldn't see a reason to object, especially now Malfoy had proven himself to be a decent person.

Harry didn't know about any of this, of course, and even if he had he probably wouldn't have cared much – he was thinking about the next day and what it would bring. He was sure it would be important – he just didn't know how and to what extent.

HPDM

Meanwhile in the Slytherin Common Room, the scene was noticeably different. The excitement about the approaching end of term was still present, only muted to an appropriate level. The Snakes were huddled all throughout the room, conducting their conversations in murmurs and hisses, as they were wont to do.

Draco was sitting with Blaise, Nott, Crabbe and Goyle in a huddle of deep green chairs around the silver and green flames in the fireplace.

"So, Potions project ends tomorrow." Blaise noted with a slight drawl.

"Yeah." Nott said. "I'll be glad when it's over."

Crabbe and Goyle gave their obligatory grunts of agreement. All eyes turned now to Draco, in the centre of their semi-circle.

"Don't you agree, Draco?" Blaise said.

The light from the fire reflected off Draco's pale features, giving him the appearance of glowing green and silver simultaneously. He didn't say anything at first, merely watching the flickers of the flames. Eventually, he answered.

"Indeed." He said in a measured voice, not looking up.

Blaise and Nott exchanged looks.

"Of course, you've been spending a lot of time on it with Potter." Blaise noted, with the most delicate tone of accusation in his voice. "I guess you'll be sorry at the loss of the chance to torment him."

Silence again from Draco, before he uttered another measured, "Indeed."

"What's with you tonight?" Nott questioned.

Draco looked up now, straight at Nott. He considered for a moment before speaking again in a measured voice. "Nothing. I am just anxious about returning home for these holidays."

The others leaned forward with almost obscene eagerness. "Why?" Blaise pounced.

Draco turned his head slowly to look at Blaise. There was a long silence.

"Well, I'm afraid that's not really your business, Zabini." He said coolly.

Blaise's dark eyebrows went up, and he regarded Draco with curiosity and something akin to hurt.

"Very well." Was all he said, however, and the group resumed their silent contemplations of the fireplace.

After a long and frosty silence, Draco rose from his chair. "I'm going to bed." He said. "Good evening to you all."

The others murmured their goodnights as Draco straightened his robes and swept towards the staircase to the boys dorms. His progress was impeded, however, by Pansy Parkinson.

"Draco, darling." She said, looking up at him with a slight simper.

Draco groaned inwardly, but gave a coldly polite smile. "Pansy." He greeted. He noted that her appearance was a damn slight better than it had been all those weeks ago when she had tried, and failed, to seduce him. For the last fortnight, in fact, she hadn't been decked out like a slut as usual.

Her hair was loose and clean, her make-up reasonably light and her clothing was surprisingly not tight and extremely revealing.

If he were the Draco Malfoy everyone expected him to be, he would find her extremely attractive and be halfway through seducing her already.

But, fortunately, he was not the Draco Malfoy everyone expected him to be – he was in fact gay and in love with Harry Potter - so instead he merely felt relief that she was not such an appalling sight anymore.

"Did you want anything?" he questioned.

"Yes." Pansy said, her voice nearly a purr. "You."

Draco nearly gagged as he reflected that although you could change your appearance as much as you liked, it was a lot more difficult to change your personality.

"Oh?" he drawled, resisting the urge to distract her and then run for it.

"Yes." She continued. "Holidays are only in a few days. I was thinking, maybe I could talk to my parents and see if I could come over to your house after Christmas for a while…"

Draco didn't throw up, but it was a near thing.

"You were, were you?" He said. "Well, I'm not sure if that would be feasible."

"Why not, Draco darling?"

"Because I would rather gouge my own eyes out than allow you into my house." Draco said coldly, sweeping past her and up the staircase before he could even hear her reply.

He entered the dorm, and headed straight for the sanctuary of his bed. After casting the usual protection charms, he flopped back with relief.

Pansy was correct – holidays were soon, and the next day was the day that their Potions project was due. Draco was so filled with anxiety and excitement that he barely had room to feel anything else. He'd had to escape the tense atmosphere downstairs – it was playing hell on his nerves and they were frazzled enough as it was.

Harry was going to be testing the potion. Draco was simultaneously relieved and worried about this. What might Harry say under the influence of Verfortue? What would happen if Draco didn't react the right way?

Draco let his head thud onto his pillow. He would not sleep very much at all that night.

HPDM

_Wednesday, December 23rd_

Wednesday morning dawned with freezing snow fluttering across the castle windows. It was the kind of cold that required gloves and scarves indoors, as the draft from outside was vicious.

After breakfast, the Gryffindors trooped outside, applying mufflers and hats as they went on their way to Herbology. Professor Sprout took pity on them and announced they would be not be studying the Ice Flower that day, and instead they would be working with the Fire Bush. There were many relieved sighs at this as the students split into groups of three and huddled around the flames of the bushes.

They didn't do much that lesson. Of course, Professor Sprout intended for them to, but her good intentions got mixed up along the way with everyone else's intentions on staying warm.

After Herbology came Charms, after Charms came lunch, after lunch came Defence Against The Dark Arts, after that came the break, and after that came…

Potions.

There was an air to how Harry carried himself as they descended the stone steps to the dungeons like he was walking to his own execution.

"It'll be fine, Harry." Hermione murmured, squeezing his hand comfortingly.

Harry made a non-committal noise in his throat as they arrived outside the door. The Slytherins were already there, of course (Draco among them) but Harry could not bring himself to meet Draco's eyes. He brushed past them, eyes on the ground, and joined the end of the line of Gryffindors who were awaiting entry into the classroom.

The door swung open, and Snape stood before them, more like an overgrown bat than ever, black eyes glimmering in the torchlight.

"Enter." He sneered, and the students hastened to comply. They took their seats, with Harry sitting in his now regular spot beside Draco at the front.

"Hey." Harry said, flopping onto the stool.

"Hey." Draco answered, shooting him the briefest of smiles before turning to face the front.

Harry felt his heart give a wild little flutter just as Snape closed the classroom door with a bang. He swept to the front of the classroom, eyes glittering around at each of them in turn.

"As you are no doubt aware," he began silkily, "today is the last day of term. What exactly does that mean, do you think?"

There was silence, before Theodore Nott raised his hand.

"Yes, Nott?"

"It means today's the day our projects were due, sir," he said.

"Exactly." Snape said. "By my reckoning, you all have exactly an hour and a half for all of your research and samples of potion to be presented to me at my desk. If one of these components is missing, you will suffer the consequences." There was cold fury in his voice that told them they really did not want to know what the consequences were.

"Some potions can be tested yourselves, and I will be checking this accordingly – however, for those with potions they are unable to test, such as the Wolfsbane potion, they must only put their sample onto my desk and hope to Merlin it's up to standard."

There was a silence.

"Begin."

At the word there was a flurry of movement – people began to unpack their things, scurry off to get ingredients, organise their cauldrons.

Harry and Draco also wasted no time, with Draco hurriedly gathering both his and Harry's scrolls of information while Harry held his wand below their cauldron, murmuring a quick 'Incendio_' _to light a fire beneath.

Draco deposited the scrolls neatly onto Snape's desk. "These are mine and H…Potter's, sir." He said.

Snape looked up from his seat at the desk. He eyed them critically. "Two complete scrolls of information. Very well done, Draco."

"Thank you, sir." Draco said, before turning and hurrying back to his desk, where Harry had a nice fire going.

They began work, and all Harry could think as he chopped and sliced and skinned and mixed was he was immensely glad they had practised this, as he was certain that if this was the first time he'd done this he would've screwed it up spectacularly. As it was, he was now managing to keep up step-for-step with Draco's instructions, and it wasn't until their potion hit it's first simmering stage that he was able to take a break and look around.

Behind them were Seamus and Crabbe, who were both working harder than Harry had thought possible for the two of them. Seamus was feverishly stirring their cauldron, from which a light, silvery steam was emanating, while Crabbe was cutting up what appeared to be a dead spider's legs. Shuddering lightly, Harry turned back to his own cauldron.

Draco was timing the simmering period. "3…2…1…" he quickly picked up the ladle and stirred the contents of the cauldron five times counter-clockwise. After a brief inspection, he breathed a sigh of relief.

"It's going fine." He said to Harry, who nodded rather tersely.

"Good."

They continued their work, with Harry obeying every instruction Draco gave him immediately.

An hour and 15 minutes later 

Harry absently ran a hand through his hair and looked around. It was roughly 5 minutes or so until the end of class, and it seemed like nearly everyone had just about finished their potions. The classroom was filled with steam and smoke of all the colours of the rainbow, as well as smells ranging from pleasant to putrid.

"3…2…1…" Draco counted down the last seconds of their potion's final simmering stage. "It's done."

Harry leaned over and eyed the liquid within the cauldron with apprehension. It was light blue, exactly like their practise one had been a week ago. He breathed a sigh of relief. It had gone well.

"Time's up." Announced Snape, standing suddenly behind his desk and moving to the front. "Step away from your cauldrons."

Everyone did so.

"Now, put your hands up if you believe you potion can be tested now." Snape said.

Every stood completely still, apparently too afraid to move one way or the other.

"Put your hands up this instant or it will be detentions for a week for all of you." Snape snarled. Reluctantly, students began to raise their hands, Harry and Draco among them.

Snape counted. "Only two pairs cannot. Surprising. Very well, let's see what we've got, starting with Miss Brown and Miss Greengrass…"

Snape moved to the front desk beside Harry and Draco's to watch them test their potion. He began moving up along the row, something that caused both relief and anxiety in Harry – which of course was doubtlessly Snape's aim all along.

From the two girls, Snape moved on to Dean and Goyle, whose potion to induce extreme euphoria very comically seemed to work on Goyle, who upon drinking the sunny yellow potion gained a very large and cheerful smile on his normally gormless face, and immediately began spouting phrases such as, "It's such a beautiful day today, isn't it?" and, "I've never felt more gay in my life!". The latter, of course, sent the class into fits of laughter that were eventually quelled with a Look from Snape.

He skipped past Parvati Patil and Millicent Bulstrode as they seemed to have a potion they could not test themselves, and moved to the back row with Ron and Zabini.

As Harry knew, Ron was to test the potion, and he swallowed the reddish coloured liquid with an admirably small amount of apprehension. After his vial was empty, Ron sat there quietly for a moment before a large, happy smile broke onto his face and he began chatting away to Hermione at the next table, seemingly oblivious to the classroom full of people watching him.

"I'm just so happy, 'Mione!"

"Yes, Ron, I know." Said Hermione, albeit embarrassedly as gazes swivelled between Ron and herself.

"…and mood change in 3, 2, 1…" drawled Snape in a bored voice.

Ron's beaming smile lasted for only a split second before it was replaced with a down-turned, quivering bottom lip as his large blue eyes filled with tears. To the shock and amusement of the class, Ron promptly let out a miserable wail that would do a banshee proud as he buried his head into his arms.

All Slytherins present burst out laughing, with some Gryffindors finding it difficult not to join in. Hermione, however, was by his side in an instant.

"Ron? Are you OK?"

"NO!" Ron wailed once more, now sobbing freely against Hermione's shoulder. "I'm just…so…SAD!" He punctuated this with a fresh wave of tears.

"Moving on." Snape said dryly after making a note on his clipboard. "Now, we cannot test your potion, is that correct, Miss Granger? Miss Parkinson?"

"No, sir." Hermione explained, still trying to comfort an inconsolable Ron. "We did the Wolfsbane potion, sir, and as we're not werewolves we can't test it."

"Very well." Snape sneered, "Ensure a sample is on my desk by the end of the period. On to Longbottom and Nott, then."

He moved to Neville's table, who was looking distinctly nervous as Snape glowered at them.

"Polyjuice potion, correct?"

Neville and Nott both nodded.

Snape conjured two clear glass phials from nowhere and handed them to each. "Proceed."

Nott filled each phial with the mud-like liquid that characterised the Polyjuice Potion. Harry winced in recollection as he watched Neville reach up to pull a hair from his head – his experience with that potion had not been entirely pleasant

Nott added his hair to Neville's phial first, which gave a hiss and promptly turned a dark green shade. Neville did likewise to Nott's phial, except the liquid within turned a bright, cheerful orange.

They both drank from the phials underneath the class's curious gaze.

At once, the effects of Polyjuice became evident in both of them as they doubled over, groaning in pain as their skin began to bubble before the class's eyes. It was all over within a minute, with Neville seeming to be sitting where Nott once was and vice versa for Nott.

Snape studied them closely, making notes every now and then. "Surprising." He drawled finally, regarding Neville/Nott with contempt. "You didn't manage to screw it up, Longbottom, but I'm sure it was a near thing. Next."

He moved to the table behind Harry's, where Seamus and Crabbe were awaiting testing.

"Which potion are you testing?" he asked them.

"An advanced invisibility potion, sir." Seamus answered.

"Very well." Snape conjured another phial for them and set it onto the desk. "Proceed."

Seamus picked up the phial and filled it with the potion, which was a silvery colour. He downed it all in one gulp, and then sat licking his lips. The class waited breathlessly until it became clear that Seamus was very slowly beginning to fade away. He was transparent, he was barely visible, he was…gone.

"Hmm." Snape said, clearly disappointed it had worked. "I see. By the way, Mr Finnegan, if you should take it into your head to move around and cause disruption, I will assign you the most complicated essay topic I can think of faster than you can say 'But sir, it's the holidays!'"

He glared menacingly at the stretch of air where Seamus presumably was, before moving on.

"Now…Mr Potter, Mr Malfoy."

They eyed him warily.

"Verfortue, am I correct?"

"Yes, sir." Draco said.

"Do proceed, then." Snape sneered, looking like he was enjoying himself a bit too much.

Harry tried very hard to fight the waves of nervousness that were crashing around in his stomach as he took the phial Snape had conjured for him.

He filled it with their potion and paused for a moment, before glancing to Draco.

There was nothing but encouragement in those silvery eyes as Draco gazed back at him, seemingly unaware the entire class was watching their interaction.

Without a word, Harry downed the potion, not breaking eye contact with Draco.

Draco had been right – it did taste vaguely of vanilla. Upon swallowing the last of the potion, Harry stopped and considered.

At once, an unpleasant bubbling sensation erupted in his stomach, and with it came a feeling of being completely out of control, like anything could happen and Harry would have no way of stopping it…

He could feel the potion telling him to speak up and reveal some truth. He could hear it, in fact, like it was a voice whispering in his ear. He clutched his stomach as the whisper turned to shouts, and the bubbling sensation seemed to increase tenfold until it felt like he was going to explode…

And then, through the Verfortue-induced haze, he saw Draco's eyes, clear and steady on his, filled with concern and worry and…was that…love?

This final thought was the trigger as Harry, barely aware of what he was doing, straightened up and looked directly into Draco's eyes.

"I love you, Draco Malfoy."

His voice was as Draco's had been the Friday before – louder, clearer, deeper than usual. The words seem to hang in the air after they were spoken.

As the bubbling sensation in his stomach receded to a content hum, Harry was barely aware of the gasps and murmurs of shock that were currently sweeping the room. He didn't see Snape's temporarily uncontrolled expression of horror and surprise. Nor could he hear Pansy's shrill voice shrieking about how Draco was hers, or see Zabini's measured look of shock.

All he could see was Draco, right in front of him, mouth agape and eyes shining with an unidentified emotion, and all he could hear was a roaring sound in his ears accompanied by a little voice that was chanting '_I did NOT just say that, I did NOT just say that, I really, truly did NOT just say that…'_

"Mr Potter?" Snape said in a choked voice.

'_Oh fuck. I really did just say that.' _Harry realised.

"I…" Harry didn't honestly know what he was meant to say. No one he knew had ever been in this situation before.

A Gryffindor he might be, but that underlying Slytherin streak of his was telling him one thing – run for it, and preserve what's left of your pride before you say something else completely stupid.

A wise idea, Harry decided, and he promptly threw his stuff into his bag and got to his feet.

"Just where do you think you're going, Mr Potter?" Snape snarled furiously, but before he could say anything else Harry was sprinting out the door as fast as his legs could carry him.

The door slammed shut with a snap, leaving a stunned silence in its wake.

In the back of the room, Ron's mood changed to anger.

"WHY DID HARRY JUST RUN OUT OF THE ROOM!" he roared into the silence. "WHY DID HE JUST SAY THAT TO MALFOY? WHAT THE BLEEDING HELL IS GOING ON!"

Before anyone could move or say anything else, the bell rang.

"Samples and research on my desk." Snape said faintly, his gaze still on the closed door. "Now."

Everyone began packing up and organising samples of their potions, whispering excitedly. Draco moved faster than all of them, filling, sealing and labelling a bottle of Verfortue before anyone had even approached the front desk. He hurriedly vanished the rest of the potion with a quick 'Evanesco!' and crammed his stuff into his bag, and then practically ran to Snape's desk.

Snape, who had sat back down, looked to him and hissed, "Would you mind terribly, Draco, telling me _what the hell is going on?_"

"No time." Draco said hurriedly, dumping the bottle next to his and Harry's scrolls of parchment. "Have to go."

Without another word, he sprinted from the classroom as well, causing a lot of people to watch his exit with mingled suspicion and curiosity.

Hermione, having tried to convince Ron to stop yelling and failing miserably, had watched all this with a slight smile on her face.

'_So Harry finally said it.' _She thought. _'Now it's up to Malfoy to make him realise the truth.'_

HPDM

Harry burst into the Entrance Hall, eyes wild, which made the students heading for the Great Hall and dinner look over to him curiously. Ignoring them all, he ploughed through the crowd and up the Grand Staircase, whirling to the left and along the corridor.

About 20 seconds after Harry had disappeared from sight, Draco Malfoy burst into the Entrance Hall as well, looking around before setting off up the Grand Staircase, pausing only when he reached the top.

"Has anyone…" he panted to a nearby group of stunned looking Ravenclaws, "…seen…Harry Potter?"

"Yes, he went that way, through that shortcut behind the tapestry." Replied one of the Ravenclaws, pointing to the left along the corridor.

Draco gave his thanks as he pelted down the corridor, under the tapestry and out of sight.

HPDM

Harry arrived on the second floor from the shortcut, aware that now the initial burst of adrenaline had worn off he would need to stop running soon. Spotting a nearby door to the right, he turned into it and inspected the room beyond. An empty, unused classroom. Perfect.

He collapsed onto the ground, breaths coming in pants as he regained his normal breathing pattern.

He was never, ever, ever leaving this room. There was no one in here who had heard his truth. Most importantly, _Draco _wasn't here to express his disgust now he knew the truth about Harry.

'_Freak, pouf, faggot…' _taunted a voice in Harry's head as he adapted a foetal position, rocking gently.

In the corridor outside, Draco burst through the tapestry and paused, considering. Harry wouldn't still be running, surely. He would've found somewhere to stop and rest.

Draco scanned the nearby doors and paintings, before spotting a door that was ajar. _'Bingo.'_ He thought, moving forward and opening the door all the way.

He spotted Harry on the floor, and his heart beat faster. He approached him slowly, carefully, trying not to startle the dark-haired boy who was currently curled up and rocking.

He sat down beside Harry, who had stilled upon sensing another presence in the room.

"Harry?" he questioned gently.

Harry kept his eyes shut, rubbing his stomach as the bubbling sensation began to rise once more, apparently deciding it was time he told some truth again.

"Harry…" said Draco again, reaching over and brushing a hand through Harry's soft, dark hair.

"Don't touch me!" Harry yelped, rolling away from the touch until he was flat on his back beside Draco.

Draco rolled his eyes in exasperation, before noticing how Harry was rubbing his stomach.

"Are you alright?" he asked hesitantly.

Harry didn't answer as the Verfortue engulfed his senses once more, and he turned his head to look at Draco.

Draco barely had time to feel stunned at the brilliant glow of Harry's green eyes before Harry was speaking in that same deep, clear, loud voice.

"I love you, Draco Malfoy."

It was the same statement as before, but it didn't have any less of an effect on him. Draco felt a chill shoot through him from head to toe as he decided right then that he really, really liked it when Harry said those words.

Harry shivered as the sensations subsided again, and a horrified expression came over his features.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry, please don't hate me, I don't really mean it…" he stammered.

"Shhh." Draco murmured, placing a finger over Harry's lips to silence him. "You bloody well better have meant it." He whispered affectionately.

Harry's eyes widened comically as Draco straightened up and looked Harry dead in the eye. Imitating the loud, clear, deep voice associated with the Verfortue potion, he smiled at Harry.

"I love you, Harry Potter."

If it was possible, Harry's eyes went even wider. "W-what? What did you just say?" he choked.

"I love you." Draco said simply. "And I've been wanting to hear you say it back for so long."

"What are you talking…" Harry began, but he was silenced as Draco leaned down and kissed him.

Harry hesitated for only a brief second before he kissed back, his brain silently questioning what the hell was going on but his body unwilling to examine it too closely.

Draco sighed in contentment, his hands sliding behind Harry's head to run through the soft, dark strands. He never felt more comfortable than when he was kissing Harry. Of course, he'd only done so twice, but come this new revelation he was hoping to be doing it a lot more.

Finally, Harry's brain caught up with the rest of him and Harry pushed Draco away, firmly.

He looked up into Draco's eyes and was taken back to see Draco was panting, cheeks flushed, eyes glowing and hair lightly tousled.

Harry shifted uncomfortably as he felt a twinge that had nothing to do with the potion.

"What's the matter?" Draco asked.

"What the hell is going on?" Harry asked, pleadingly.

Draco chuckled. "You mean you don't know?"

"No!"

He sighed in mock annoyance. "Alright, Harry, I'll explain it, but only because it's you." He paused, allowing himself to enjoy the sight of a just-been-kissed Harry. "I've been in love with you for quite a while now, and I thought I'd never have a chance to be with you because we were meant to hate each other."

Harry was quiet, listening.

"But then, back in October, you proposed a truce with me. I was happy because that meant maybe we wouldn't have to always be at each other's throats."

Harry nodded, before something occurred to him. "Hang on, does that mean when I asked you why your heart never seemed to be in our fights and why you clutched my hand after we shook hands, the real reason was…"

"Not that I don't hate you anymore, no." Draco confirmed. "It was because I was in love with you."

"…oh." Things began to slowly make more sense to Harry.

"Anyway," Draco continued, "Even after the truce it seemed like nothing would ever happen between us, and I was miserable. Then, that night, you saw Zabini's attempts to seduce me."

Harry's eyes narrowed in remembrance.

"I realised you'd seen what happened and I set out after you to comfort you, although I didn't know how I would do that at the time. I found you, and, well, you know what happened."

Harry flushed, remembering the kiss and what he'd said afterwards.

"I went up to the Astronomy Tower, because, well…"

Harry suddenly realised exactly why Draco must've been up there and he gave a cry.

"I didn't mean for that to happen!" he insisted. "I didn't realise I hurt you that much…"

"I know, Harry, I know." Draco said patiently. "Anyway, I saw Weaselette, sent the note to Granger who then told you what was going on. And then you broke up with her, and then she started those rumours, and then we got our Potions assignment…"

He took a breath, and continued. "And over the period of time we've been working together I've been doing my best to make sure you saw my good side, and didn't have a reason to hate me anymore. And I guess it worked, because now…"

"…I love you." Harry finished in a whisper, staring at Draco with wide eyes.

"Exactly." Draco nodded.

"But…I've barely even known the real you for that long! How could I fall in love with you?"

"You can't question your heart." Draco said simply. "It wants what it wants. And evidently, yours wants me."

A slow, bashful grin began to creep onto Harry's face. "And…yours wants me as well?"

Draco smiled at him. "Yep. No one else."

A blush appeared on Harry's cheeks, and he ducked his head. "I wouldn't mind that, I guess." He murmured, barely concealing a grin.

"Good." Draco murmured back, and he leaned over Harry and captured his lips once more in another deep kiss.

They lay like that for a while, Harry still on his back, Draco leaning over him and kissing him with all he had. In the outside world the Gryffindors may have been completely freaking out and the Slytherins may have been trying to adjust to this new development, but for the moment it was just the two of them.

Until Draco broke off the kiss for air, and breathed deep, gazing at Harry below him, who gazed back.

"You know," he murmured, "I keep thinking I'm going to wake up and realise none of this happened."

"Why?" Harry asked.

"Because I used to have dreams where this happened and I'd always wake up completely devastated it wasn't real. I was with you, but only in my dreams."

Harry smiled, playing absently with Draco's hair before kissing him lightly.

"Not anymore." He said simply.

That was all Draco needed, and as they kissed again, Draco realised that this moment, this place and this boy, was perfection.

Only in his dreams?

Screw that.

He had everything he needed, right here in reality.

_The End_

**AN: Well, there you have it people. The final chapter of Only In My Dreams. **

**First of all, I'd like to thank anyone who has ever read OIMD, even if they only read the first sentence and thought 'stuff this, I'm not reading this shit.' THANK YOU!** **Especially I'd like to thank anyone who's ever reviewed along the way, you've all made it so, so worth every second of frustration I've had with this story.**

**I'd like to thank Sarah for putting up with news of every chapter (or lack thereof) and for inspiring me to write my own multi-chap story in the first place.**

**I started writing this way back in November 2005 as a method of coping with a situation that was extremely painful for me. Thankfully, that situation is now long gone. I kept writing the story though, because I enjoyed it.**

**(Edit as of February 1st, 2007: The story has been edited all the way through, and is now officially considered finished!) **

**So, whoever you are, THANK YOU for reading, and please consider leaving a review for what has been the bane and joy of my existence for the last 15 or so months.**

**bleedingxheart**


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